Citations:cosmos

Etymology 1

 * 1)  The universe regarded as a system with harmony and order.

Another sense?

 * 1797: Encyclopædia Britannica, volume 5: Cicero–Diameter, page 534, “Crete”
 * The Cretan government, ſoon after the expulſion of Idomencus, became ariſtocratical. The power was divided between the nobles and the people. Yet as the chief employments were occupied by the nobles, they directed the adminiſtration of affairs. Ten magiſtrates were annually elected, by a majority of voices, in the national aſſembly. Theſe were named Coſmoi, and their public office and character were the ſame with thoſe of the Ephori at Sparta. They were the generals of the republic in time of war, and directed all affairs of any importance. They had the right of chooſing certain old men for counſellors. Thoſe old men, to the number of twenty-eight, compoſed the Cretan ſenate. They were choſen from among ſuch as had diſcharged the office of Coſmoi, or had diſtinguiſhed themſelves by extraordinary merit and blameleſs probity. Thoſe ſenators continued in office during life, poſſeſſed a weighty influence, and were conſulted in every affair of any importance. This body was a barrier oppoſed by the wiſdom of the legiſlator againſt the ambition of the ten chief rulers. He had impoſed another reſtraint on their power, by limiting the period of their adminiſtration to one year. His foreſight went ſtill farther. The ſuffrages of the people might be obtained by bribery or perſonal influence, and of conſequence their choice might ſometimes fall on a man unworthy of ſo honourable an office. When that happened, he who had been undeſervedly advanced to the dignity of Coſmos was degraded, either in a national aſſembly, or ſimply by the voices of his colleagues. This, doubtleſs, is what Plato alludes to, when he ſays, “Neither the commonwealth, which approaches too near to a monarchical conſtitution, nor that which affects a licentious liberty, is founded on the ſolid baſis of a juſt medium between anarchy and deſpotiſm. O Cretans! O Lacedemonians! by eſtabliſhing yours on firmer foundations, you have avoided thoſe fatal extremes.”
 * 1810: George Ensor, On National Government, volume 1, pages 261–262⁽¹⁾ and 272⁽²⁾
 * ⁽¹⁾ But I may observe, that the ephori answered to the cosmoi, with this difference, that the cosmoi were ten, the ephori five; though the cosmoi were chosen from certain families, which Aristotle⁴ reprehends, and the ephori from the community. It is also remarkable, that the senate of each was twenty-eight in number¹: but I should observe, that the election to the senate was popular² at Sparta, while the persons who formed the Cretan senate were chosen from those who had served the office of cosmoi³.
 * ⁽²⁾ The Cretan constitution had cosmoi, who, Aristotle says, correspond to the ephori of Sparta: then why should not Lycurgus have established the ephori?
 * 1829: Marcus Tullius Cicero [aut.] and G.W. Featherstonhaugh [tr.], The Republic of Cicero, book II, § XXXIII, page 106
 * In the reign of Theopompus, at Sparta, those five whom they call Ephori; the ten too in Crete, who are called Cosmoi; arose against the royal power, as the tribunes of the people did against the consular authority.