[5]By the 5th and 4th centuries BCE, arete as applied to men had developed to include quieter virtues, such as dikaiosyne (justice) and sophrosyne (self-restraint).

Though Plato tried to produce a moral philosophy that incorporated this new usage, it was in the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle that the doctrine of arete found its fullest flowering.

In Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, arete mainly describes heroes and nobles and their mobile dexterity, with special reference to strength and courage, though it is not limited to this.

Debra Hawhee points out that the norms and practices of Athenian virtuosity "operate within the politics of reputation, whose normative poles are honor and shame.

"[11] Dying in battle or securing a victory in the Olympic Games were considered agathos ("good") and, hence, deserving of timê ("honor").

So, not only is Achilles a brave and brilliant warrior but also, from the outset, he is destined to die in battle at Troy with the utmost glory—a guarantor of arete.

[11] According to Bernard Knox's notes in the Robert Fagles' translation of The Odyssey, "arete" is also associated with araomai, the Greek word for "pray".

[13] This story was later used by Christian writers, such as Methodius of Olympus, Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, and Basil of Caesarea.

[8] It was commonly believed that the mind, body, and soul each had to be developed for a man to live a life of arete.