Bibliotheca Historica

​Antigonus, indeed, having inflicted so great a disaster upon the enemy, won great renown for generalship and sagacity. He was eager to rule the sea and to acquire the undisputed hegemony of Asia. For this reason, having selected from his entire force twenty thousand light-armed infantry and four thousand cavalry, he advanced toward Cilicia, hastening to cut to pieces Eumenes and his men before he could assemble a stronger force.

​Eumenes, having learned of the onset of Antigonus and his men, attempted to recover Phoenicia, which had been unjustly seized by Ptolemy, for the kings; but being hard pressed by the circumstances, he withdrew from Phoenicia and advanced with his force through Coele-Syria, hastening to reach the so-called upper satrapies.

​But around the Tigris River, when the natives attacked him by night, he lost some of his soldiers. Similarly, also in Babylonia, when Seleucus attacked him along the Euphrates River, he ran the risk of losing his entire force, as a certain canal had burst and the whole encampment was flooded; nevertheless, through his own generalship, having fled to a certain embankment and having turned back the canal again, ​he saved both himself and his force. Having unexpectedly escaped from the hands of Seleucus, he arrived in Persis with his force, having fifteen thousand infantry and three thousand three hundred cavalry. Having recovered his soldiers from their distress, he sent messengers to the satraps and generals in the upper satrapies, summoning both soldiers and funds. And the affairs in Asia progressed up to this point during this year.