ARETE
          ARETE is traditionally translated as "virtue," but it has in Greek both a broader and a
          more specific meaning. Things as well as people have their own special ARETE. The
          ARETE of a chimney, for example, consists in the reliability of its draw in various
          climatological conditions and in the efficiency of its shape, which reflects heat into the
          room and conducts smoke through the roof. ARETE is excellence within a kind. The
          ARETE of a spinter is speed, of a long-distance runner endurance, of a knight,
          horsemanship, of a foot-soldier courage, etc. An instance of a type that posseses,
          exhibits, or exemplifies the particular ARETE of that type is AGATHOS ("good.") (Recall
          Dustin Hoffman's character in Rainman: " I am an excellent driver." In ancient Greek
          this would be rendered as: " I am an AGATHOS driver," meaning " I possess and exhibit
          the ARETE of driving.") For introducing Greek concepts such as ARETE to what the
          British once dismissively referred to as "Greek-less readers" there is still no greater nor
          more imaginative guide than A. W. H. Adkins.