Read Arrian’s[207] _Parthica_ (History of Parthia) in seventeen
books. He has also written the best account of the campaigns of
Alexander of Macedon. Another work of his is _Bithynica_ (History
of Bithynia), relating the affairs of his native country. He also
wrote an _Alanica_ (History of the Alani).[208] In the _Parthica_
he gives an account of the wars between Parthia and Rome during the
reign of Trajan. He considers the Parthians to have been a Scythian
race, which had long been under the yoke of Macedonia, and revolted,
at the time of the Persian rebellion,[209] for the following reason.
Arsaces and Tiridates were two brothers, descendants of Arsaces, the
son of Phriapetes. These two brothers, with five accomplices, slew
Pherecles, who had been appointed satrap of Parthia by Antiochus
Theos,[210] to avenge an insult offered to one of them; they drove
out the Macedonians, set up a government of their own, and became so
powerful that they were a match for the Romans in war, and sometimes
even were victorious over them. Arrian further relates that during
the reign of Sesostris, king of Egypt, and Iandysus, king of Scythia,
the Parthians removed from their own country, Scythia, to the land
which they now inhabit. The emperor Trajan reduced them to submission
but left them free under a treaty, and appointed a king over them.
This Arrian, called the “young Xenophon,” a philosopher and one
of the pupils of Epictetus,[211] flourished during the reigns
of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Antoninus. Owing to his
remarkable learning he was entrusted with various offices of state,
and was finally promoted to the consulship. He was also the author of
other works: the _Lectures_ of Epictetus his master, with eight books
of which we are acquainted, and the _Conversations_ of Epictetus
in twelve books. His style is dry, and he is a genuine imitator of
Xenophon.
It is said that he was also the author of other works, but they have
not come into my hands. Certainly he does not lack rhetorical skill
and power.