Cornelius Nepos · Eumenes §12.1-12.4

Deliberations of Antigonus and the Death of Eumenes

Passage 12 of 13 · Latin

Summary

Antigonus consults his council regarding Eumenes, who strongly demand his execution. Although Antigonus delays his decision, he orders Eumenes to be starved, and Eumenes is ultimately killed by his guards during a camp relocation.

§12.1De hoc Antigonus cum solus constituere non auderet, ad consilium rettulit.

Since Antigonus did not dare to decide about this by himself, he referred it to the council.

hic cum omnes primo perturbati admirarentur non iam de eo sumptum esse supplicium, a quo tot annos adeo essent male habiti, ut saepe ad desperationem forent adducti, quique maximos duces interfecisset,

Hereupon everyone, although at first thrown into confusion, wondered that punishment had not already been inflicted on him, by whom they had been so badly treated for so many years that they were often brought to despair, and who had slain the greatest generals; in short, that on him alone it so much depended that, as long as he lived, they themselves could not be secure, but if he were slain, they would have no trouble.

§12.2denique in quo uno tantum esset, ut, quoad ille viveret, ipsi securi esse non possent, interfecto nihil habituri negotii essent: postremo, si illi redderet salutem, quaerebant, quibus amicis esset usurus: sese enim cum Eumene apud eum non futuros.

Finally, they asked, if he should grant him his life, what friends he would use; for they themselves would not remain with him along with Eumenes.

§12.3hic cognita consilii voluntate tamen usque ad septimum diem deliberandi sibi spatium reliquit.

Although he knew the will of the council, nevertheless he left himself space for deliberating up to the seventh day.

tum autem, cum iam vereretur ne qua seditio exercitus oreretur, vetuit quemquam ad eum admitti et cottidianum victum removeri iussit: nam negabat se ei vim allaturum, cui aliquando fuisset amicus.

Then, however, since he now feared lest any mutiny of the army should arise, he forbade anyone to be admitted to him and ordered his daily food to be removed; for he said that he would not bring violence upon him to whom he had once been a friend.

§12.4hic tamen non amplius quam triduum fame fatigatus, cum castra moverentur, insciente Antigono iugulatus est a custodibus.

However, having been weakened by hunger for no more than three days, when the camp was being moved, he was strangled by the guards without the knowledge of Antigonus.

Notes

12.1forent — forent is an alternative form of essent; here, adducti forent represents the imperfect subjunctive passive in the result clause introduced by ut.
12.2in quo uno tantum esset, ut — The antecedent of the relative pronoun quo is Eumenes. The phrase in aliquo est means 'it depends on someone' or 'it lies in someone'. The subjunctive esset is used in a clause subordinate to cum... admirarentur.
12.2interfecto nihil habituri negotii essent — interfecto is an ablative absolute with conditional force ('if he were slain'). habituri... essent is an active periphrastic conjugation (future active participle + subjunctive imperfect of esse), functioning as the apodosis of a conditional sentence in indirect discourse.
12.3deliberandi — Gerund in the genitive case, modifying the noun spatium ('space' or 'time for deliberating').
12.4non amplius quam triduum — In the comparative expression non amplius quam ('no more than'), triduum remains in the accusative of duration of time; the comparative amplius does not affect the case of the following noun.

Cite this passage

Cornelius Nepos, Eumenes §12.1-12.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0588.abo018.humanitext-lat2:12.1-12.4

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