"The senses only perceive his material figure;——the imagination perceives the external figure alone, exclusive of the matter;——reason goes further, and examining existences in general, discovers the particular species of every individual;——the eye of intelligence... rises higher... beyond the bounds of what is general... [and] surveys the simple forms themselves, by its own pure and proper light... [T]he higher power of perception includes the lower; but... the... [lower] can by no means attain to the energy of the... [higher]: for the senses cannot rise to the perception of any thing but matter, nor can the imagination comprehend existences in general; neither can reason conceive simple forms: whereas intelligence, looking down as it were from above, and having conceived the form, discerns all the things which are below it, and comprehends... what does not fall within the reach of the other faculties. For she comprehends existences in general, as conceived by reason, the figure that strikes the imagination, and the matter that falls under the cognizance of the senses, without making use either of reason, or the imagination, or the senses; but she comprehends them all formally, i.e. by beholding their simple forms... by one single effort of the mind."
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Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy
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