I've also enjoyed reading Plato's dialogues. In Greek culture, the gods were portrayed as being basically like men, but they were stronger, had special powers, and were immortal.

Socrates was convinced that the gods were actually better than us. And by better, he meant virtuous. The virtues were generally thought of as being Wisdom, Justice, Temperance and Courage. The thought was that one who practices the virtues cannot be harmed by them, but only experience good.

The Stoics expanded on the idea and were convinced that Virtue is necessary and sufficient for Eudaimonia. Eudaimonia is sometimes translated as "happiness", but it has the connotation of flourishing (as a human).