[Footnote 12: Xenophon, Memorab. i. 1, 11-14. [Greek: Ou)dei\s de\ pô/pote Sôkra/tous ou)de\n a)sebe\s ou)de\ a)no/sion ou)/te pra/ttontos ei)=den ou)/te le/gontos ê)/kousen; _ou)de\ ga\r_ peri\ tê=s tô=n pa/ntôn phu/seôs ê(=per tô=n a)/llôn oi(/ plei=stoi, diele/geto, skopô=n _o(/pôs o( kalou/menos u(po\ tô=n sophistô=n ko/smos_ e)/chei, kai\ ti/sin a)na/gkais e(/kasta gi/gnetai tô=n ou)rani/ôn; a)lla\ kai\ tou\s phronti/zontas ta\ toiau=ta môrai/nontas a)pedei/knue.] Lucretius, i. 80:-- Illud in his rebus vereor, ne forté rearis Impia te rationis inire elementa, viamque Indugredi sceleris, &c. The above cited passage of Xenophon shows that the term [Greek: Ko/smos] was in his time a technical word among philosophers, not yet accepted in that meaning by the general public. The aversion to investigation of the Kosmos, on the ground of impiety, entertained by Sokrates and Xenophon, is expressed by Plato in the Leges (vii. 821 A) in the following words of the principal speaker,--[Greek: To\n me/giston theo\n kai\ o(/lon to\n ko/smon phame\n ou)/te zêtei=n dei=n ou)/te polupragmonei=n ta\s ai)ti/as e)reunô=ntas; ou) ga\r ou)d' o(/sion ei)=nai; to\ de\ e)/oike pa=n tou/tou tou)nanti/on gigno/menon o)rthô=s a)\n gi/gnesthai.] This last passage is sometimes cited as if the word [Greek: phame\n] expressed the opinion of the principal speaker, or of Plato himself--which is a mistake: [Greek: phame\n] here expresses the opinion which the principal speaker is about to controvert.] [Footnote 13: See above, vol. i. ch. ix. of the present work, where the Platonic Apology is reviewed.] [Footnote 14: "Quocirca Timæus non dialecticé disserens inducitur, sed loquitur ut hierophanta, qui mundi arcana aliunde accepta grandi ac magnificâ oratione pronunciat; quin etiam quæ experientiæ suspicionem superant, mythorum ac symbolorum involucris obtegit, eoque modo quam ea certa sint, legentibus non obscuré significat."--Stallbaum, Prolegg. ad Platon. Timæum, c. iv. p. 37.] [Side-note: Fundamental distinction between Ens and Fientia.] Timæus begins by laying down the capital distinction between--1. Ens or the Existent, the eternal and unchangeable, the world of Ideas or Forms, apprehended only by mental conception or Reason, but the object of infallible cognition. 2. The Generated and Perishable--the sensible, phenomenal, material world--which never really exists, but is always appearing and disappearing; apprehended by sense, yet not capable of becoming the object of cognition, nor of anything better than opinion or conjecture. The Kosmos, being a visible and tangible body, belongs to this last category. Accordingly, it can never be really known: no true or incontestable propositions can be affirmed respecting it: you can arrive at nothing higher than opinion and probability. Plato seems to have had this conviction, respecting the uncertainty of all affirmations about the sensible world or any portions of it, forcibly present to his mind.