... souls, which are a burning breath, rose through the air towards the fires of the sky, in virtue of their lightness. When they reached the upper zone, they found in ether about the moon surroundings like their own essence and remained there in equilibrium. Conceived as material and as circular in form, they were, like the heavenly bodies, nourished by the exaltations which arose from the soils and waters. These innumerable globes of a fire endowed with intelligence formed an animated chorus about the divine luminary of night.
Franz Cumont
