INTRODUCTION. (>9 



moiiy of antiquity, Pythagoras was the first who used the 

 word Cosmos to designate the order that reigns in the uni- 

 verse, or entire world.* 



* Koa/xoc, in the most ancient, and at the same time most precise, 

 definition of the word, signified ornament (,as an adoi'nment for a man, 

 a woman, or a horse) ; taken figuratively for evra^La, it implied the or- 

 der or adornment of a discourse. According to the testimony of all the 

 ancients, it was Pythagoras who first used the word to designate the 

 order in the universe, and the universe itself. Pythagoras left no writ- 

 ings ; but ancient attestation to the truth of this assertion is to be found 

 in several passages of the fragmentary works of Philolatis (Stob., Eclog., 

 p. 360 and 460, Heeren), p. 62, 90, in Bockh's German edition. I do 

 not, according to the example of Nake, cite Timfeus of Locris, since hig 

 authenticity is doubtful. Plutarch {De plac. Phil., ii., 1) says, in the 

 most express manner, that Pythagoras gave the name of Cosmos to the 

 universe on account of thirvrder which reigned throughout it; so like- 

 wise does Galen {Hist. Phil., p. 429). This word, together with its 

 novel signification, passed from the schools of philosophy into the lan- 

 guage ot poets and prose writers. Plato designates the heavenly bod- 

 ies by the name of Uranos, but the order pervading the regions of space 

 he too terms the Cosmos, and in his Timceus (p. 30, b.) he says that the 

 world is an animal endowed with a soul {k6(J(iov t^C)ov kfi'^vxov). Com- 

 pare Anaxag. Claz., ed. Schaubach, p. Ill, and Plut. {De plac, Phil., 

 ii., 3), on spirit apart from matter, as the ordaining power of nature. 

 In Aristotle {De Casio, 1, 9), Cosmos signifies " the universe and the 

 order pervading it," but it is likewise considered as divided in space 

 into two parts — the sublunary world, and the world above the moon. 

 (Meteor., I., 2, 1, and I., 3, 13, p. 339, a, and 340, b, Bekk.) The def- 

 inition of Cosmos, which I have already cited, is taken from Pseado-Ar 

 istoteles de Mundo, cap. ii. (p. 39 D; tte passage referred to is as fol- 

 lows: Koa^og karl avarrjiia ef ovpaVov Kai yfig koI tuv ev Tovroig irepte- 

 XOfievcju (j>v(jeo)V. Aeyerat de kol iirepug KoaXog rj tuv &?.uv tu^lq re Kai 

 dtaKoa/xriaLg, vko ■&eC)v te Kai Slo, ■&eiov <j)VAaTTO{xevij. Most of the pas- 

 sages occurring in Greek writers on the word Cosmos may be found 

 collected together in the controversy between Richard Beutley and 

 Charles Boyle {Opuscula Philologica, 1781, p. 347, 445; Dissertation 

 upon the Epistles of Phalaris, 1817, p. 254) ; on the historical existence 

 of Zaleucus, legislator of Leucris, iu^Niike's excellent work, Sched. 

 Crit., 1812, p. b, 15; and, finally, in Thcophilus Schmidt, ad Cleom. 

 Cycl. Thcor., met. I., 1, p. ix., 1, and 99. Taken in a more limited 

 sense, the word Cosmos is also used in the plural (Plut., 1, 5), either to 

 designate the stars (Stob., 1, p. 514; Plut., 11, 13), or the innumerable 

 systems scattered like islands through the immensity of space, and each 

 composed of a sun and a moon. (Anax. Claz., Fragm., p. 89, 93, 120 ; 

 Brandis, Oesch. der Oriechisch-Romischen Philosophie, b. i., s. 252 (His- 

 tory of the Greco-Roman Philosophy). Each of these groups forming 

 thus a Cosmos, the universe, to ttuv, the word must be understood in a 

 wider sense (Plut., ii., 1). It was not until long after the time of the 

 Ptolemies that the word was applied to the earth. BScfch has made 

 known inscriptions in praise of Trajan and Adrian ( Corpus Inscr. Greec, 

 1, n. 334 and 1036), in which Koaiiog occurs for oLKOviievrj, in the same 

 manner as we still use the term world to signify the earth alone. We 

 have already mentioned the singular division of the regions of spi,ce 



