The basis of this assimilation is always asserted to be the preëxistence of the spirit or _nous_. In the allegory of the chariot and winged steeds, given in the _Phædrus_, he represents the psychical nature as composite and two-fold; the _thumos_, or _epithumetic_ part, formed from the substances of the world of phenomena; and the θυμοειδές, _thumoeides_, the essence of which is linked to the eternal world. The present earth-life is a fall and punishment. The soul dwells in “the grave which we call _the body_,” and in its incorporate state, and previous to the discipline of education, the noëtic or spiritual element is “asleep.” Life is thus a dream, rather than a reality. Like the captives in the subterranean cave, described in _The Republic_, the back is turned to the light, we perceive only the shadows of objects, and think them the actual realities. Is not this the idea of _Maya_, {xiv} or the illusion of the senses in physical life, which is so marked a feature in Buddhistical philosophy? But these shadows, if we have not given ourselves up absolutely to the sensuous nature, arouse in us the reminiscence of that higher world that we once inhabited. “The interior spirit has some dim and shadowy recollection of its antenatal state of bliss, and some instinctive and proleptic yearnings for its return.” It is the province of the discipline of philosophy to disinthrall it from the bondage of sense, and raise it into the empyrean of pure thought, to the vision of eternal truth, goodness, and beauty. “The soul,” says Plato, in the _Theætetus_, “cannot come into the form of a man if it has never seen the truth. This is a recollection of those things which our soul formerly saw when journeying with Deity, despising the things which we now say _are_, and looking up to that which REALLY IS. Wherefore the _nous_, or spirit, of the philosopher (or student of the higher truth) alone is furnished with wings; because he, to the best of his ability, keeps these things in mind, of which the contemplation renders even Deity itself divine. By making the right use of these things remembered from the former life, by constantly perfecting himself in the perfect mysteries, a man becomes truly perfect—an initiate into the diviner wisdom.”