 At the beginning of Memorabilia, Xenophon, in fact, portrays Socrates as uninterested in the abstract investigations of the physical philosophers. Socrates, he says, eschewed the investigation of the kosmos; he preferred looking into human affairs. Besides, humans cannot understand the universe, as shown by the inability of those who engage in these kinds of study to agree (I.i.11–14). In fact, towards the end of the work, Xenophon says that Socrates held that the study of geometry should be pursued to the point where one could measure a parcel of land he meant to buy; study of more complicated figures he disparaged because he did not see the use of it (IV.vii.3). If after this introduction we did not expect to find a very great difference between epistêmê and technê, we would not be disappointed.