Antoninus Pius.[1] Previous to this he was appointed (A.D. 132) by Hadrian, Governor of Cappadocia, which province was soon after invaded by the Alani, or Massagetae, whom he defeated and expelled.[2] When Marcus Aurellus came to the throne, Arrian withdrew into private life and returned to his native city, Nicomedia. Here, according to Photius, he was appointed priest to Demeter and Persephone. He died in the reign of Marcus Aurelius.
The earlier literary efforts of Arrian were philosophical. After the expulsion of the philosophers from Rome, by Domitian, Epictetus delivered his lectures at Nicopolis, in Epirus, where it is probable that Arrian was his pupil.
I. These lectures were published by Arrian, under the title of Discourses of Epictetus, in eight books, the first four only of which have come down to us. He tells us himself in the introduction to this work, that he strove as far as possible to preserve the very words of his teacher as mementoes of his method of reasoning and diction. Gellius (xix. 1) speaks of a fifth book of these Discourses.
II. He also compiled The Enchiridion of Epictetus, an abstract of the philosophy of Epictetus, which is still extant. This manual of the Stoic moral philosophy was very popular, both among Pagans and Christians, for many centuries.
III. Another work by Arrian, in twelve books, distinct from the above, is mentioned by Photius under the title of "'Όμιλία,'Επικτήτου" or Friendly Conversations with Epictetus. Of this only a few fragments survive.
IV. Another lost work of Arrian on the life and death of Epictetus is mentioned by Simplicius in the beginning of his Commentary on the Enchiridion.
V. Besides editing these philosophical works, Arrian
- ↑ Cf. Lucian (Alexander, 2).
- ↑ See Dio Cassius, Ixix. 15.
