This book, concerning man and ethics, consists of carefully selected texts from ancient Greek literature in the original, their translations, and commentary. The main criterion for selection was the contribution of the text to education.
An Introduction is prefaced, where the following are briefly presented: a) key elements of the nature of man and the essence of ethics as the pinnacle of his freedom; b) the life and works of poets Homer, Hesiod, Mimnermus, Simonides, Pindar, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and philosophers Democritus, Plato, Aristotle. In the First Part, the subject is man. Intelligence is highlighted as a saving trait for his existence; his primordial life and his advancement towards civilization are recounted; the transition from vengeful self-justice to established justice is mythologized; his happiness is characterized as ephemeral, but his share in divinity is also noted; his greatness in the face of Nature is praised; his high-mindedness, counterbalancing his tragic fate, is extolled.
In the Second Part, the subject is the relationship between ethics and man. The value of ethics is emphasized and important ethical demands are highlighted; inherent family feelings are indirectly praised, the concept of virtue is analyzed, friendship is described as a moral good, and self-love and other moral defects are presented; the pursuit of justice is characterized as man's likeness to God, and the various ways of human life and the conditions of his happiness are sought.

(excerpt from the Preface by Academician Konstantinos I. Despotopoulos)