Eumenes

Eumenes of Cardia. If fortune equal to his valour had been granted him, he would not indeed have proved greater — for we measure great men by valour, not by fortune — but far more illustrious and even more honoured. For since his lifetime fell in those days in which the Macedonians flourished, it took much from him, living among them, that he was of another state, nor was anything else lacking to him but noble stock. For although he was of the highest birth in his own land, yet the Macedonians took it ill that he should at any time be set before them; yet they nonetheless endured it: for he surpassed them all in care, vigilance, endurance, cleverness, and quickness of wit. While still a very young man, he came into the friendship of Philip, son of Amyntas, and in a short time arrived at the closest intimacy: for already in the youth the seeds of virtue shone forth. And so Philip kept him at hand in the place of secretary, which among the Greeks is far more honourable than among the Romans. For among us, in very truth as it is, secretaries are reckoned hirelings; but among them, on the contrary, no one is admitted to that office unless of honourable station, and of proven good faith and industry, because he must be a partaker of all counsels. This place of friendship he held with Philip for seven years. When Philip was slain, he held the same rank with Alexander for thirteen years. In the very last period he was even put in command of one of the two squadrons of cavalry, which was called the Companion squadron. To both he was always at hand in counsel, and was held a partaker in all affairs.

When Alexander died at Babylon, and the kingdoms were being divided among his several intimates, and the supreme charge had been handed over to be guarded by him to whom Alexander, dying, had given his ring — Perdiccas (from which all conjectured that he had committed the kingdom to him, until Alexander's children should come to their own guardianship: for Craterus and Antipater were away, who seemed to take precedence of Perdiccas; and Hephaestion was dead, whom alone, as could easily be understood, Alexander had valued most) — at this time there was given, or rather assigned, to Eumenes Cappadocia: for it was then in the power of the enemy. Perdiccas had attached this man to himself with great zeal, because he saw in him great good faith and industry, not doubting that, if he won him over, he would be of great use to him in those matters which he was preparing. For he was planning — what nearly all in great commands covet — to seize and grasp the shares of all. Nor indeed did he alone do this, but all the rest too who had been friends of Alexander. First, Leonnatus determined to seize Macedonia beforehand. He, with many and great promises, was eager to persuade Eumenes to desert Perdiccas and make alliance with him. When he could not bring him over, he tried to kill him, and would have done so, had not Eumenes secretly by night fled out of his outposts.

Meanwhile those wars were kindled which after Alexander's death were waged to the death, and all rushed together to crush Perdiccas. Although Eumenes saw that he was weak, because he was forced alone to resist all, yet he did not desert his friend, nor was he more desirous of safety than of good faith. Perdiccas had set him in charge of that part of Asia which lies between Mount Taurus and the Hellespont, and had set him alone against the European adversaries; he himself had set out to assail Egypt against Ptolemy. Since Eumenes had neither great nor firm forces — because they were both untrained and not long before gathered — and Antipater and Craterus were said to be drawing near and to have crossed the Hellespont with a great army of Macedonians, men outstanding both in renown and in experience of war (now the Macedonian soldiers were then of that fame which the Romans now enjoy: for they have always been held the bravest who gained the supreme empire) — Eumenes understood that, if his forces learned against whom they were being led, they would not only not march, but would melt away at the very news. And so this seemed to him most prudent, to lead his soldiers by roundabout marches, on which they could not hear the truth, and to persuade them that he was setting out against certain barbarians. And he held to this plan, and led his army into the line and joined battle before his soldiers knew with whom they were matching arms. He brought it about also, by occupying the ground beforehand, that he should fight rather with cavalry, in which he was the stronger, than with infantry, in which he was the weaker.

When in a most fierce encounter the fighting had gone on a great part of the day, there fell Craterus the leader and Neoptolemus, who held the second place of command. With this last Eumenes himself engaged. When they, grappling, had fallen to the ground from their horses, so that it could easily be understood that they had contended with hostile mind and had fought even more in spirit than in body, they were not torn apart before life left the one of them. By him Eumenes was wounded with several blows, yet for all that did not withdraw from the battle, but pressed the enemy the more keenly. Here, the cavalry being routed and the leader Craterus slain, and many besides, and especially nobles, taken captive, the foot army, because it had been led into such ground that it could not slip away against Eumenes' will, sued to him for peace. When they had obtained it, they did not abide in their faith, and, as soon as they could, withdrew to Antipater. Eumenes was eager to revive Craterus, carried half-alive from the field; and when he could not, he buried him with a costly funeral, in proportion to the man's worth and his former friendship (for he had been on familiar terms with him while Alexander lived), and sent his bones into Macedonia to his wife and children.

While these things were going on at the Hellespont, Perdiccas was slain at the river Nile by Seleucus and Antigenes, and the supreme charge of affairs was handed to Antipater. Then those who had not deserted were, by the vote of the army, condemned to death in their absence, and among them Eumenes. Struck by this blow, he did not give way, nor did he the less administer the war. But his slender resources, though they did not break, yet diminished his greatness of soul. Pursuing him, Antigonus, though he abounded in every kind of forces, was often harassed on the marches, nor was it ever permitted him to come to close quarters except in those places where few could resist many. But at the last, when he could not be caught by stratagem, he was surrounded by numbers. Yet from this too, with the loss of many of his men, he extricated himself and fled to a stronghold of Phrygia, which is called Nora. When he was besieged there and feared lest, remaining in one place, he should lose his cavalry-horses, because there was no room for exercising them, it was a clever invention of his, how a horse, standing, could be warmed and exercised, so that it might the more gladly take its food and not be deprived of bodily motion. He used to tie up the head with a thong higher than that the horse could fully touch the ground with its forefeet, then from behind, with blows, he forced it to leap and to lash out with its heels: which motion shook out no less sweat than if it had run a course. By which it came about — what seemed marvellous to all — that he led his horses out of the stronghold as sleek as if he had kept them in level country, although he had been several months in the siege. In this enclosure, as often as he wished, he burned, or scattered, the engines and works of Antigonus. He kept himself in one place so long as it was winter, because he could not have a camp under the open sky. Spring was approaching: by a feigned surrender, while he treated of the terms, he tricked the officers of Antigonus and drew himself and all his men out unharmed.

When Olympias, who had been the mother of Alexander, had sent a letter and messengers to him in Asia to consult him, whether she should go to recover Macedonia (for she was then living in Epirus) and seize her own — to her he first advised that she should not stir, but wait until Alexander's son obtained the kingdom; but if she were carried away by some desire into Macedonia, she should forget all her wrongs and use her power over no one too harshly. Of these things she did none: for she both set out into Macedonia and there bore herself most cruelly. She asked of Eumenes, in his absence, that he should not suffer the bitterest enemies of Philip's house and family to destroy his offspring also, but should bring help to the children of Alexander. If he granted her this favour, he should as soon as possible make ready armies which he might bring to her aid. That he might the more easily do this, she had sent letters to all the officers who remained in their duty, that they should obey him and use his counsels. Moved by these things, Eumenes thought it better, if fortune so willed, to perish in repaying gratitude to one who had deserved well of him, than to live ungrateful.

And so he gathered forces and made ready war against Antigonus. Because there were with him several Macedonian nobles — among them Peucestes, who had been Alexander's bodyguard and now held Persis, and Antigenes, under whose command was a phalanx of Macedonians — fearing envy (which yet he could not escape), if he himself, a foreigner, should hold the supreme command rather than some one of the Macedonians, of whom there was a multitude there, in the headquarters he set up a tent in the name of Alexander, and in it ordered a golden throne with a sceptre and diadem to be placed, and all to assemble there daily, that there counsels might be taken on the highest matters; believing that he would be the less envied if it should seem that he was conducting the war under the show of empire and the pretence of Alexander's name. And this he brought about. For since they did not assemble at the headquarters of Eumenes, but at the royal tent, and there deliberated on affairs, in a certain way he lay hidden, while yet all was carried on through him alone.

He came to blows with Antigonus among the Paraetacae, not in pitched battle, but on the march, and forced him, badly handled, to withdraw into Media to winter. He himself in the neighbouring region of Persis divided his forces for the winter, not as he wished, but as the will of the soldiers compelled. For that phalanx of Alexander the Great, which had traversed Asia and conquered the Persians, grown old both in glory and in licence, demanded not to obey its leaders but to command, as our veterans now do. And so there is danger lest they do what those men did, that by their own intemperance and excessive licence they ruin all, and no less those with whom they have served than those against whom they have stood. And if anyone reads the deeds of those veterans, he will recognize the like in these, and will judge that no difference exists save in time. But let me return to them. They had taken up winter quarters not for the use of war, but for their own luxury, and had separated far one from another. When Antigonus learned this, and understood that he was not a match for adversaries who were prepared, he resolved that he must adopt some new plan. There were two roads by which one could reach the winter quarters of his adversaries from Media, where he was wintering. Of these the shorter ran through desert places, which no one inhabited on account of the scarcity of water, but it was about ten days; the other, by which all travelled, had a circuit twice as long, but was well-furnished and abounding in all things. If he set out by this, he understood that his adversaries would learn of his coming before he had accomplished a third part of the journey; but if he pressed through the desolate places, he hoped to overwhelm the enemy unawares. To carry out this enterprise he ordered as many water-skins and even leather bags as possible to be got ready; after these, fodder, and besides, cooked provisions for ten days, that as little fire as possible might be made in the camp. By what route he was going, he concealed from all. Thus prepared, he set out by the way he had determined.

He had accomplished about half the distance, when from the smoke of his camp a suspicion was brought to Eumenes that the enemy was drawing near. The leaders assemble; it is asked what should be done. They all understood that their forces could not be gathered so quickly as Antigonus seemed likely to be at hand. Here, when all were wavering and despairing of their highest interests, Eumenes said that, if they would use speed and do as ordered — which before they had not done — he would set the matter right. For he would bring it about that the road which the enemy could cross in five days should be lengthened by no fewer days of delay: wherefore let them go about and each gather his own forces. And to check the onset of Antigonus he adopted this plan. He sends trusty men to the foot of the mountains which lay over against the enemy's march, and orders them, at nightfall, to make as widely as they can the largest possible fires, and to lessen these at the second watch, and at the third to make them very small, so that, by counterfeiting the appearance of a camp, they might throw the enemy into the suspicion that there was a camp in those places and that their coming had been forewarned; and to do the same on the following night. Those to whom this had been entrusted carefully attended to their instructions. Antigonus, when darkness came on, caught sight of the fires: he believes that his coming had been learned and that his adversaries had drawn their forces thither. He changes his plan, and, since he could not attack them unawares, he bends his march and takes the longer circuit of the well-furnished road, and there waits one day to allay the weariness of his soldiers and to refresh his beasts, that with a fresher army he might decide the issue.

Thus Eumenes by counsel overcame a cunning commander and checked his speed, yet for all that he profited little. For through the envy of the leaders with whom he was, and the treachery of the Macedonian veterans, although he had come off superior in battle, he was handed over to Antigonus, although the army had thrice before, at separate times, sworn that they would defend him and never desert him. But so great was the disparagement by some of his valour, that they preferred to lose their faith than not to destroy him. And yet Antigonus, although he had been most bitterly hostile to him, would have preserved him, had it been permitted by his own men, because he understood that he could be aided by no one more in those matters which already plainly threatened all. For Seleucus, Lysimachus, Ptolemaeus were impending, now grown strong in resources, with whom he would have to contend for the highest stakes. But those who were about him did not allow it, because they saw that, Eumenes being received, all would be of small account beside him. And Antigonus himself was so inflamed that he could not be appeased except by great hope of the greatest things.

And so, when he had put him in custody and the keeper of the guard had asked in what manner he wished him kept, 'As a most fierce lion,' said he, 'or a most savage elephant': for he had not yet decided whether to preserve him or not. There came to Eumenes both kinds of men, both those who, out of hatred, wished to take with their eyes some satisfaction from his fall, and those who, out of old friendship, longed to talk with and console him; many too who were eager to learn his appearance, what manner of man he was whom they had so long and so greatly feared, in whose ruin they had placed their hope of victory. But Eumenes, when he had been a good while in chains, said to Onomarchus, in whose hands lay the supreme charge of the guard, that he marvelled why he was kept thus now for the third day: for it did not befit the prudence of Antigonus that he should so treat one who had been conquered; let him rather order him either to be killed or set free. When he seemed to speak too fiercely to Onomarchus, 'What?' said he, 'if you were of that mind, why did you not fall in battle rather than come into the power of an enemy?' To him Eumenes said: 'Would indeed that this had befallen! But it did not come about, because I never engaged with one stronger; for I never crossed arms with anyone but he sank beneath me.' Nor was that false: for he fell not by the valour of the enemy, but by the treachery of his friends. For he was of an honourable presence, and of strength firm to bear toil, and not of so great a body as of comely figure.

Concerning him Antigonus, since he did not dare to decide alone, referred the matter to a council. When all at first, disturbed, marvelled that punishment had not already been taken upon a man by whom for so many years they had been so ill-handled that they had often been brought to despair, and who had slain their greatest leaders, and in short in whom alone there was so much that, so long as he lived, they themselves could not be free from anxiety, while, were he slain, they would have no trouble: at last, if Antigonus should grant him his life, they asked, what friends he would have to use; for they at least would not be with Antigonus along with Eumenes. He, having learned the wish of the council, nevertheless allowed himself a space of seven days for deliberation. Then, however, when he now feared lest some mutiny of the army arise, he forbade anyone to be admitted to him and ordered his daily food to be removed: for he said that he would do no violence to one who had once been his friend. Yet he, worn out by hunger no more than three days, when the camp was being moved, was strangled by the guards without the knowledge of Antigonus.

Thus Eumenes, at the age of forty-five — since, as we have shown above, he had from his twentieth year served Philip for seven years, had held the same rank with Alexander for thirteen, among these had commanded one squadron of cavalry, and after the death of Alexander the Great had led armies as commander and had partly driven back, partly slain, the greatest leaders — was taken captive, not by the valour of Antigonus, but by the perjury of the Macedonians, and so met the end of his life. In what great esteem he was held by all those who after Alexander the Great were called kings, can most easily be judged from this: that those of whom none, while Eumenes lived, had been called king, but only governor, after his death at once assumed the royal apparel and title, nor were willing to make good what at the outset they had proclaimed, that they were preserving the kingdom for the children of Alexander; and, this one champion being removed, they laid open what they really felt. The authors of this crime were Antigonus, Ptolemaeus, Seleucus, Lysimachus, Cassander. Antigonus, however, handed over Eumenes, when dead, to his kinsmen to be buried. They, with a military and honourable funeral, the whole army attending, buried him, and saw to it that his bones were conveyed into Cappadocia to his mother and wife and children.