Following the principles of the civic ethics, the key measure of the true value is the country and what is beneficial to it. A man distinguished by bravery and valour, not aiming at gaining personal recognition but at defending the endangered freedom of polis, became a model.44
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The ideal glorified by Tyrtaeus had a significant impact on education in the entire Greece at that time. It was also accepted outside the Spartan country. Tyrtaeus’ elegies became a solid foundation of the civic culture. At special moments of fighting for the preservation of freedom and national existence – both during the Greco-Persian wars and during the Peloponnesian War – a common reverence was offered to a citizen, who while fighting against an enemy, distinguished himself by valour.45 The fact that a hero forever remained in the memory of the citizens, whose good he was fighting for, is meaningful because the early Greek thought did not know the concept of the immortality of the soul. At that time, there was a conviction that along with the death of the body, the whole man died. It was believed, however, that the sacrifice of life on the battlefield – in the name of the common good – ensured immortality.46
While analysing the changes that took place at that time, it should be noted that one of the important factors responsible for those transformations was the democratization of the military service – the former aristocratic privilege. Given the fact that in the Athenian polis every citizen was obliged to do a period of military service, the equality sign was placed between the concept of a “citizen” and a “soldier.” The changes related not only to the issues of the tactics of fighting but also to the sphere of morality, in addition, they significantly impacted the personality of the warrior himself. The civic ethics moved the values of solidarity and obedience into the foreground, in contrast to the chivalrous ethics of individual distinctions. Moreover, taking care for one’s dignity was closely connected with attention paid to the victory gained while defending others. According to the then ideal, the warrior’s valour could not be dependent on thymos – passion and the lack of control, but it was in a close relationship with sóphrosyné – the sense of moderation and discipline.47
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By analysing this Greek term, it is possible to notice that it encompasses two dimensions of human life – moral and intellectual. They consist of the following elements: temperance, self-control, self-knowledge, inner balance and common sense. This is the essence of the intellectual freedom (mens sana, set against the powerlessness caused by the lack of control and passions.48 Due to the combination of areté – in the sense of valour with sóphrosyné, the ideal of strength and physical fitness was linked with the new ideal of spiritual perfection, according to which man’s behaviour had to be subordinated to the power of reason and law.
Further transformations pertaining to the understanding of the term areté occurred in the fifth and the fourth centuries BC when the aforementioned ideal began to devaluate.49 The number of citizens able to serve in the ranks of the hoplites decreased significantly as a result of continuous wars since the end of the fifth century.50 With the advancement of technology and tactics of fighting, the army preparation requirements rose as well. They could be met only by the professional army – the mercenary army.51 Valour based on physical fitness and patriotism (areté) was gradually replaced by the ability to apply the technical means of action (techné). The aforesaid changes significantly influenced the attitudes of the citizens of polis. They recognized that the city-state could be defended by others, even by the paid mercenaries who could be foreigners. The fact that citizens deviated from the indicated duty led to a deterioration of patriotism and citizenship of Athenians. In the face of that crisis, one could observe an increased activity of the then writers. The frequently selected leitmotiv of their works was showing examples of the ancestors’ valour, which was to exemplify some kind of paradeigma – a pattern and a principle of action52. This form of literary creation was incorporated into the education methods used both in the period of aristocratic and democratic education. Their core relied on using ←28 | 29→two inseparable elements in the education process: paradeigma and mimesis – a model and imitation.
Following the theorists’ considerations from the fourth century BC, we can see that the significance of arête was expanded. It included the following elements: valour – andreia, theoretical wisdom – phronesis, caution and temperance – sóphrosyné, the sense of justice – dikaiosyné. Thus, areté understood in this way defined the moral perfection of man. The indicated features constituted the canon of civic virtues. Plato emphasized in particular the importance of justice (dikaiosyne).53 It was in justice, in his opinion, that the fullness of arête was included. By extension, striving for justice borne on the grounds of polis became the new force of human education, which was analogous to the chivalrous ideal of valour in war, favoured in the previous aristocratic society.’54 The concept of justice was henceforth at the forefront of civic virtues. It should be stressed at this point that the components of the former Spartan concept of excellence were not removed but were shifted to a higher level55. According to Plato, human happiness depends on whether man follows the principles of reason and justice in his way of conduct. Plato indicated that sóphrosyné and dikaiosyné were closely linked with the human happiness. Happiness was, as of yet, tied to the victory in battle and fame associated with it. Moreover, sóphrosyné and dikaiosyné were particularly valued by Isocrates among the four virtues. He claimed that they were the features of perfect citizens. The two remaining features – andreia and phronesis, may also be the attributes of bad people.56 The new ideal based on a strong sense of justice, penetrated all spheres of the Athenian state in the fourth century BC.
The source of changes in the meaning of areté in the emerging Athenian democracy was also a changing attitude to wealth and the possession of material goods. A richer layer of demos began to grow, next to aristocracy, claiming power in the state.57 This change in ownership relations had also influence on the aristocratic concept of areté. Therefore, separating nobility from the possessed wealth became the more and more frequent practice. People were inclined to let the behaviour decide that a man of noble birth was simply a noble man. It was some kind of the nobility of the spirit. According to the ethics of the democratic ←29 | 30→polis, areté could not depend on the origin or wealth. The confirmation of this principle was isonomia – equal justice under law guaranteeing that all citizens could participate in the state management.
Over time, the Athenian society was less and less stable and uniform. The economic changes that took place in Athens at that time caused that the position of a citizen was no longer determined by the originating status. It facilitated the stratification determined by economic factors and resulted in serious changes in morality. The differences between the old land aristocracy ad the new plutocracy started to blur. The Athenians became increasingly open to granting citizenship to the representatives of various social layers and different professions, however, they always drew their attention to the fact whether that person turned out to be chresimos té polei – whether he did something good to the nation or to the people.58 The terms areté or agathos have pragmatic meaning. Virtue is no longer associated with one origin or another but with an active attitude and acting for the benefit of the polis. In Greece, there was some sort of universal politicization of man, who was required to actively engage in the public life of the state and to be aware of his civic duties. Man had to divide his life into what was private (idion) and what was social (koinon). As of yet, the indicated duties rested on the nobility. It was the nobility that possessed the ability to exercise power. In the new conditions, there was still some reference to the old noble way of education. An ideal of being a speaker of words and a doer of deeds was still the most important goal of life for the citizen of the polis.59 The ancient Greek ideal model of noble culture found its deeper meaning just in the culture of the city-state. It was transferred to the general public there. An aristocratic education became a universally applied means of the formation of a man and a citizen. Thus, after the noble culture, the original polis constituted the next indispensable stage in the process of developing a humanistic ideal of the universal,
