The death of the soul is, while merged, or baptized, as it were, in the present body, to descend into matter, and be filled with its impurity, and after departing from this body, to lie absorbed in its filth till it returns to a superior condition, and elevates its eye from the overwhelming mire. For to be plunged into matter is to descend to Hades, and fall asleep.
Plotinus, Ennad I, Book 8