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Plutarch · Life of Eumenes §12.1-12.3

Amending the Oath and Eumenes's Escape from Nora

Passage 12 of 19 · Greek

Summary

Antigonus, seeking sole power after Antipater's death, offers Eumenes peace, but Eumenes cleverly amends the proposed oath, convinces the besieging Macedonians to raise the siege, and escapes with his gathered force.

§12.1ἤδη δὲ τῆς πολιορκίας χρόνον λαμβανούσης Ἀντίγονος τεθνηκέναι πυνθανόμενος Ἀντίπατρον ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ, καὶ τεταράχθαι τὰ πράγματα Κασάνδρου καὶ Πολυσπέρχοντος διαφερομένων, οὐδὲν ἔτι μικρὸν ἐλπίζων, ἀλλὰ τῇ γνώμῃ τὴν ὅλην περιβαλλόμενος ἡγεμονίαν· ἐβούλετο τὸν Εὐμενῆ φίλον ἔχειν καὶ συνεργὸν ἐπὶ τὰς πράξεις, διὸ πέμψας Ἱερώνυμον ἐσπένδετο τῷ Εὐμενεῖ, προτείνας ὅρκον, ὃν ὁ Εὐμενὴς διορθώσας ἐπέτρεψεν ἐπικρῖναι τοῖς πολιορκοῦσιν αὐτὸν Μακεδόσι, πότερος εἴη δικαιότερος.
And now, as the siege was dragging on in time, Antigonus, learning that Antipater had died in Macedonia, and that affairs were in confusion because Cassander and Polyperchon were at variance, hoping no longer for anything small, but in his mind grasping at the whole empire, wished to have Eumenes as a friend and helper for his enterprises. Therefore, having sent Hieronymus, he tried to make peace with Eumenes, proposing an oath, which Eumenes, having corrected, referred to the Macedonians who were besieging him to decide which of the two was more just.
§12.2Ἀντίγονος μὲν γὰρ ἀφοσιώσεως ἕνεκεν ἐν ἀρχῇ τῶν βασιλέων ἐπιμνησθείς τὸν λοιπὸν ὅρκον εἰς ἑαυτὸν ὥρκιζεν, Εὐμένης δὲ πρώτην μὲν ἐνέγραψε τοῖς ὅρκοις Ὀλυμπιάδα μετὰ τῶν βασιλέων, ἔπειτα ὤμνυεν οὐκ Ἀντιγόνῳ μόνον εὐνοήσειν οὐδʼ ἐκείνῳ τὸν αὐτὸν ἐχθρὸν ἕξειν καὶ φίλον, ἀλλὰ καὶ Ὀλυμπιάδι καὶ τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν.
For Antigonus, indeed, for form's sake, mentioned the kings at the beginning, but made the rest of the oath swear allegiance to himself; whereas Eumenes first wrote Olympias into the oaths along with the kings, and then swore to be well-disposed not only to Antigonus and to hold the same enemies and friends as he, but also to Olympias and the kings.
ὧν δικαιοτέρων φανέντων, οἱ Μακεδόνες ταῦθʼ ὁρκίσαντες τὸν Εὐμενῆ τὴν πολιορκίαν ἔλυσαν, καὶ πρὸς τὸν Ἀντίγονον ἀπέστελλον, ὅπως καὶ αὐτὸς ἀποδῷ τῷ Εὐμενεῖ τὸν ὅρκον.
Since these terms appeared more just, the Macedonians, having made Eumenes take this oath, raised the siege, and sent messengers to Antigonus, so that he too might return the oath to Eumenes.
§12.3ἐν τούτῳ δὲ Εὐμενὴς ὅσους εἶχεν ἐν Νώροις τῶν Καππαδοκῶν ὁμήρους ἀπεδίδου, λαμβάνων ἵππους καὶ ὑποζύγια καὶ σκηνὰς παρὰ τῶν κομιζομένων, καὶ συνῆγε τῶν στρατιωτῶν ὅσοι διασπαρέντες ἀπὸ τῆς φυγῆς ἐπλανῶντο κατὰ τὴν χώραν, ὥστε περὶ αὐτὸν ἱππεῖς ὀλίγῳ τῶν χιλίων ἀποδέοντας γενέσθαι, μεθʼ ὧν ἐξελάσας ἔφυγεν, ὀρθῶς φοβηθεὶς τὸν Ἀντίγονον.
Meanwhile, Eumenes returned all the Cappadocian hostages he held in Nora, receiving horses, beasts of burden, and tents from those who recovered them, and gathered those of his soldiers who, having been scattered since the flight, were wandering about the country, so that there were about him horsemen lacking only a little of a thousand, with whom he rode out and escaped, rightly fearing Antigonus.
οὐ γὰρ μόνον ἐκεῖνον ἐκέλευσε πολιορκεῖν αὖθις περιτειχίσαντας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς Μακεδόσι πικρῶς ἀντέγραψε δεξαμένοις τοῦ ὅρκου τὴν διόρθωσιν.
For Antigonus not only ordered them to wall him in and besiege him again, but also wrote back bitterly to the Macedonians for having accepted the correction of the oath.

Notes

  1. 12.1τεταράχθαι τὰ πράγματα Κασάνδρου καὶ Πολυσπέρχοντος διαφερομένων — This is a nested subordinate structure where the genitive absolute (Κασάνδρου καὶ Πολυσπέρχοντος διαφερομένων) is embedded inside the accusative with infinitive clause (τεταράχθαι τὰ πράγματα) which is dependent on πυνθανόμενος (learning).
  2. 12.1ἐσπένδετο — The imperfect tense is used here as a conative imperfect, indicating that Antigonus was attempting or trying to make peace rather than successfully concluding it at that moment.
  3. 12.2τὸν λοιπὸν ὅρκον εἰς ἑαυτὸν ὥρκιζεν — The verb ὥρκιζεν (imperfect of ὁρκίζω, 'to make swear') here takes τὸν λοιπὸν ὅρκον as its object, while the prepositional phrase εἰς ἑαυτόν ('towards himself') indicates that the target of the oath of allegiance was directed to Antigonus himself.
  4. 12.2ὧν δικαιοτέρων φανέντων — The relative pronoun ὧν is a neuter plural referring to the entire set of corrected terms proposed by Eumenes in the preceding sentence, functioning as the subject of the genitive absolute construction with the participle φανέντων.
  5. 12.3ὀλίγῳ τῶν χιλίων ἀποδέοντας — The dative ὀλίγῳ functions as a dative of measure of difference ('by a little'), and the participle ἀποδέοντας ('lacking') governs the genitive of separation/comparison τῶν χιλίων ('one thousand'), together expressing the idea of 'nearly a thousand'.

Cite this passage

Plutarch, Life of Eumenes §12.1-12.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg041.humanitext-grc2:12.1-12.3

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