Ghost on the Throne - James S. Romm [164]
12 had arrived in Pella too late: In fact the man Antigonus had sent to confer with Antipater in Pella was the same one who returned with news of the old man’s death.
13 one last, stern injunction: Reported by Diodorus 19.11.9.
14 He did not belong: Very little is known about Polyperchon’s lineage or early life, but this very lack of evidence is significant. In Alexander’s army he had served only as an infantry commander and never fought with the cavalry, which again suggests an inglorious family heritage.
15 arrogantly seizing a treasure fleet: As described by Diodorus 18.52.7.
16 in this letter or in a later one: It is uncertain whether the messages described differently by Diodorus (18.58.3) and Plutarch (Eumenes 13.1) came from the same letter or two different ones.
17 a proclamation: The exact wording of the decree is given, at some length, by Diodorus (18.56).
18 He had kept up the morale: The remarkable details that follow, undoubtedly deriving from Hieronymus, who shared Eumenes’ confinement on Nora, are preserved by Plutarch (Eumenes 11) and Nepos (Eumenes 5).
19 According to Plutarch’s account: The story of the altered oath is found only in Plutarch (Eumenes 12.2) and Nepos (Eumenes 5.7) and has been rejected by Anson (“Siege of Nora”), whose opinion is seconded by Bosworth (“History and Artifice,” pp. 66–67). Anson regards the tale as a fiction concocted by Hieronymus to excuse Eumenes from what was, in his view, a brief alliance with Antigonus and a betrayal of the Argead house. Most other historians accept the story as valid, however. Michael Dixon has brought forward new support for this position in a chronological analysis of the movements of Hieronymus, Eumenes’ envoy to Antipater, showing that Eumenes must have had knowledge of the looming civil war in Europe at the time he left Nora and may even have been recruited by Polyperchon as an ally (“Corinth,” pp. 163–67).
20 or perhaps just before departing: The timing of the arrival of the letters is unclear in the sources. Dixon (see previous note) has proposed that Eumenes had already gotten word of Polyperchon’s offer from Hieronymus before he left Nora.
21 he still drew water: Details from Plutarch, Phocion 18.2.
22 and perhaps could not: Much remains unclear about Phocion’s collaboration with the Macedonian generals, since our principal source, Plutarch, was inclined to clear him of all misdeeds and to frame his story as a tragedy (see Lamberton, “Plutarch’s Phocion”).
23 Teutamus was an unknown quantity: There is no evidence at all about the history of this man prior to his appearance as co-captain of the Silver Shields in 318.
24 “I have no need”: The indirect statement found in Diodorus (18.60.2) appears to represent the precise words used by Eumenes. It should again be stressed that Hieronymus of Cardia, Diodorus’ principal source for events of this period, was an eyewitness to most of Eumenes’ activities. The words quoted on the following page represent a direct quotation in Diodorus.
25 Eumenes told his officers: The dream and the resulting erection of the tent are described, somewhat differently, by no fewer than four sources: Diodorus 18.60–61; Plutarch Eumenes 13.3–4; Nepos Eumenes 7.2–3; and Polyaenus 4.8.2. The version given here is based most closely on Polyaenus.
26 Alexander’s diadem, scepter, and armor: There has been debate as to how these came to be at Cyinda with Eumenes. Perhaps the Greek had kept them after somehow getting control of them in Babylon; perhaps they were stored in the Cyinda fortress as part of the imperial treasure. It seems likely that more than one set of these royal objects existed.
27 The hearing started: Details taken from Plutarch’s Phocion, from here to the end of the chapter.
28 for exhibition to the mob: My interpretation of Plutarch’s comment (Phocion 34.2) that Phocion’s return to Athens was shameful because he was carried on a cart. Others interpret the remark to mean that