Essay #1

Arete in the ancient Greek time ment courage and strengh.  It means that you try your hardest at something that you believe in and you never give up.  The ancient Greeks are a great example of this. At the time peroid that they lived in all countries were run by dictatorship. The Greeks thought that this was not a good way to rule a country and that the citizens should have more of a say in how the government was run. The Greeks revolted against their leaders and took over the counrty and set up the very first demorcracy. It must have taken alot of courage to stand up to the leaders that have alwasy run their coutry. Another example of arete is Socrates. He was an ancient Greek philospher that taught the people of his time to think a different way. He made people defend what they were thinking and come up with reasons of why they thought the way they did. He showed courage and strengh when he was charged with disrupting the youth of Athens and disrisptecting the gods and was taken to trail. Socrates could have just said sorry when he was at trail, and they would have let him go. He never said he was sorry, and he stood up for what he believed in which took alot of courage and strengh.