So from the root Springs lighter the green stalk, from thence the leaves More aery, last the bright consummate flower Spirits odorous breathes: flowers and their fruit, Their nourishment, by gradual scale sublimed, To vital spirits aspire, to animal, To intellectual, give both life and sense, Fancy and understanding, whence the Soul Reason receives, and Reason is their being, Discursive or intuitive: discourse Is oftest yours, the latter most is ours Differing but in degree, of kind the ’same.
(Excerpt from Milton ‘Out Of Paradise Lost’)