() II., king of PERGAMUS
son of Attalus I., whom he succeeded on the throne B. C. 197.
(Clinton, F. H. iii. p. 403.) He inherited from his predecessor the
friendship and alliance of the Romans, which he took the utmost pains to cultivate, and was
included by them in the treaty of peace concluded with Philip, king of Macedonia, in 196, by
which he obtained possession of the towns of Oreus and Eretria in Euboea. (Liv. 33.30, 34.) In the following year he
sent a fleet to the assistance of Flamininus in the war against Nabis. (Liv. 34.26.) His alliance was in vain courted by his powerful neighbour, Antiochus
III., who offered him one of his daughters in marriage. (Appian, App.
Syr. 5.) Eumenes plainly saw that it was his interest to adhere to the Romans in the
approaching contest; and far from seeking to avert this, he used all his endeavours to urge on
the Romans to engage in it. When hostilities had actually commenced, he was active in the
service of his allies, both by sending his fleet to support that of the Romans under Livius
and Aemilius, and facilitating the important passage of the Hellespont. In the decisive battle
of Magnesia (B. C. 190), he commanded in person the troops which he
furnished as auxiliaries to the Roman army, and appears to have rendered valuable services.
(Liv. 35.13, 36.43-45, xxxvii, 14, 18, 33, 37, 41; Appian, App.
Syr. 22, 25, 31, 33, 38, 43; Justin, 31.8.) Immediately on the conclusion of
peace, lie hastened to Rome, to put forward in person his claims to reward : his pretensions
were favourably received by the senate, who granted him the possession of Mysia, Lydia, both
Phrygias, and Lycaonia, as well as of Lysimachia, and the Thracian Chersonese. By this means
Eumenes found himself raised at once from a state of comparative insignificance to be the
sovereign of a powerful monarchy. (Liv. 37.45, 52_55, 38.39;
Plb. 22.1_4, 7, 27; Appian, App. Syr.
44.) About the same time, he married the daughter of Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia,
and procured from the Romans favourable terms for that monarch. (Liv.
38.39.) This alliance was the occasion of involving him in a war with Pharnaces, king
of Pontus, who had invaded Cappadocia, but which was ultimately terminated by the intervention
of Rome. (Plb. 25.2, 4, 5, 6, 26.4.) He
was also engaged in hostilities with Prusias, king of Bithynia, which gave the Romans a
pretext for interfering, not only to protect Eumenes, but to compel Prusias to give up
Hannibal, who had taken refuge at his court. (Liv. 39.46, 51; Just. 32.4; Corn. Nep. Hann. 10.)
During all this period, Eumnenes enjoyed the highest favour at Rome, and certainly was not
backward in availing himself of it. He was continually sending embassies thither, partly to
cultivate the good understanding with the senate in which he now found himself, but frequently
also to complain of the conduct of his neighbours, especially of the Macedonian kings, Philip
and his successor, Perseus. In 172, to give more weight to his remonstrances, he a second time
visited Rome in person, where he was received with the utmost distinction. On his return from
thence, he visited Delphi, where he narrowly escaped a design against his life formed by the
emissaries of Perseus. (Liv. 42.11_16;
Diod. Exc. Leg. p. 623, Exc. Vales. p. 577; Appian,
Mac. Exc. 9, pp. 519-526, ed. Schweigh.) But though he was thus
apparently on terms of the bitterest hostility with. the Macedonian monarch, his conduct
during the war that followed was not such as to give satisfaction to the Romans; and he was
suspected of corresponding secretly with Perseus, a charge which, accordinig to Polybius, was
not altogether unfounded; but his designs extended only to the obtaining from that prince a
sum of money for procuring him a peace on favourable terms. (Polyb. Fragm.
Vatican. pp. 427-429; Liv. 44.13, 24, 25; Appian, Mac. Exc. 16, pp.
531-2.) His overtures were, however, rejected by Perseus, and after the victory of the Romans
(B. C. 167), he hastened to send his brother Attalus to the senate
with his congratulations. They did not choose to take any public notice of what had passed,
and dismissed Attalus with fair words; but when Eumenes, probably alarmed at finding his
schemes discovered, determined to proceed to Rome in person, the senate passed a decree to
forbid it, and finding that he was already arrived at Brundusium, ordered him to quit Italy
without delay. (Plb. 30.17, Fragm. Vatic. p.
428; Liv. Epit. xlvi.) Henceforward he was constantly regarded with
suspicion by the Roman senate, and though his brother Attalus, whom he sent to Rome again in
B. C. 160, was received with marked favour, this seems to have been
for the very purpose of exciting him against Eumenes, who had sent him, and inducing him to
set up for himself. (Plb. 32.5.) The last years of the reign of
Eumenes seem to have been disturbed by frequent hostilities on the part of Prusias, king of
Bithynia, and the Gauls of Galatia; but he had the good-fortune or dexterity to
avoid coming to an open rupture either with Rome or his brother Attalus. (Plb. 31.9, 32.5; Diod. xxxi. Exc.
Vales. p. 582.) His death, which is not mentioned by any ancient writer, must have taken
place in B. C. 159, after a reign of 39 years. (Strab. xiii. p.624; Clinton, F. H. iii. pp.
403, 406.)
According to Polybius (32.23), Eumenes was a man of a feeble
bodily constitution, but of great vigour and power of mind, which is indeed sufficiently
evinced by the history of his reign: his policy was indeed crafty and temporizing, but
indicative of much sagacity; and he raised his kingdom from a petty state to one of the
highest consideration. All the arts of peace were assiduously protected by him: Pergamus
itself became under his rule a great and flourishing city, which he adorned with splendid
buildings, and in which he founded that celebrated library which rose to be a rival even to
that of Alexandria. (Strab. xiii. p.624.) It would be
unjust to Eumenes not to add the circumstance mentioned by Polybius in his praise, that he
continued throughout his life on the best terms with all his three brothers, who cheerfully
lent their services to support him in his power. One of these, Attalus, was his immediate
successor, his son Attalus being yet an infant. (Plb. 32.23; Strab. xiii. p.624.) A detailed account of the reign of Eumenes
will be found in Van Cappelle, Commentatio de Regibus et Antiquitatibus
Pergamenis, Amstel.] 842.