I've read several convincing SF tales that have tackled the implications of longevity, both for individuals as well as implemented population-wide technologies. The consensus is that immortality, or extreme life-extension, will result in exaggerated conservatism, cowardice and an almost pathological fear of death in those who have achieved it. IOW, if you know you can't die of old age or natural causes, you'll get really paranoid about dying as a result of violence, or accident. Like Pierson's Puppeteers.

I don't know if I agree with this, but it does not seem unreasonable. The young take awful chances, and it seems in societies where death is easy (like in our own unhygienic and pre-medical past) people do very risky things to achieve fame, glory, wealth, etc before they die of some simple infection we can defeat routinely. It's like people say, "Well I'm probably going to die soon anyway, so I might as well go for this."

BTW, I'm not from ancient Greece, but that "this too shall pass" attitude has a lot to recommend it. I'm trying to put myself in that place. The question is, how well does it hold up to hard times, when everything suddenly becomes a question of assholes and elbows? It's easy to be serene and philosophical when you're comfortable and nothing hurts.