Philo when commenting of the Jacob's Ladder story:
Somn. 1.138–139
For so far is air from being alone of all things untenanted, that like a city it has a goodly population, its
citizens being imperishable and immortal souls equal in number to the stars. Of these souls some, those
that are closest to the earth and lovers of the body (φιλοσώματοι), are descending to be fast bound in
mortal bodies, while others are ascending, having again been separated (from the body) according to the
numbers and periods determined by nature. Of these last some, longing for the familiar and accustomed
ways of mortal life, hurry back again (παλινδρομοῦσιν αὖθις), while others, pronouncing that life great
folly, call the body a prison and a tomb but escaping from it as though from a dungeon or a grave are
lifted up on light wings to the ether and range the heights for ever. (De somniis 1.138–139)1