Aretê
idea · 3 works · 11 mentions · 17 anchored passages
also in the atlas: Arete the figure
aretê · courage · courage and justice and prudence · excellence · mettle · striving · valor · virtue
spoken of as
1 expressionPrudence/Virtue“aretē”1 mention
Orations (Greek)
For they praise, one may say, all of them, and call divine and august, courage and justice and prudence, and, in a word, the whole of virtue;
in the texts
Odyssey
The Greek concept of excellence or virtue, invoked both as Phaeacian hereditary skill and as a moral judgment on Ares's disgrace.
I hope you will apprehend my meaning, and will explain to any one of your chief men who may be dining with yourself and your family when you get home, that we have an hereditary aptitude [ aretê] for accomplishments of all kinds.
"Ill deeds do not bring aretê, and the weak confound the strong.
of all those who were still fighting for their lives [ psukhai], they were by far the most excellent in aretê, for the others had already fallen under the arrows of Odysseus.
Iliad
The Greek concept of excellence or valorous striving, explicitly glossed as 'aretê' in describing the Danaans' battlefield effort.
he is tired out, and must now have food - then the Danaans, by force of their striving [ aretê], broke the battalions of the enemy with a cry that rang through all their ranks.
you know how much my steeds are better in excellence [ aretê] than all others - for they are immortal;
It was when they were doing the last part of the course on their way back towards the sea that their pace was strained to the utmost and it was seen what each could do in striving [ aretê] toward the prize.
Orations
The composite ideal of courage, justice, and prudence, praised universally but rarely pursued in practice.
For they praise, one may say, all of them, and call divine and august, courage and justice and prudence, and, in a word, the whole of virtue;