45.19
Amongst the numerous deputations from
kings and free States and communities Attalus, the brother of Eumenes,
attracted all men's eyes and thoughts. He was received by the men who had
taken part with him in the war with as hearty a welcome as though Eumenes
himself had come. Two objects had brought him to Rome, to all appearance
honourable ones; one was to offer congratulations on the victory which he
had himself helped to win, the other was to complain of an inroad of the
Gauls and a defeat which he had sustained and which seriously threatened his
kingdom. But he was also cherishing secret hopes of receiving from the
senate benefits and rewards which could hardly fall to his lot without injuring
his relations with his brother. There were certain men in Rome, evil
counsellors, who encouraged his ambitions. These men made him believe
that the prevailing opinion in Rome with regard to Attalus and Eumenes was
that the one was a sure friend to the Romans, the other was regarded as a
man whom neither the Romans nor Perseus could trust as an ally. It was
difficult, therefore, to decide whether the requests he made on his own
behalf or those through which he might seek to damage his brother would be
the more likely to gain the consent of the senate, so bent were they as a body
on granting everything to Attalus and denying everything to Eumenes.
Attalus, as the event showed, was one of those men who try to gain all that
their hopes promise them; but in his case the wise admonitions of a friend
put a curb, so to speak, on a temper which was becoming wanton through
popularity. There was in his suite a physician called Stratus; Eumenes, who
felt uneasy, had sent him specially to Rome to watch his brother's conduct,
and if he saw him becoming disloyal to his brother, to give him sound and
faithful advice. Stratus found that he had to deal with ears already
preoccupied and feelings already tampered with, but he seized favourable
moments for conversing with him, and in these interviews he restored a
position which had become almost hopeless. He represented to him that
different kingdoms had grown strong through different causes; their
kingdom was a new one, not based upon age-long power; it stood through
brotherly harmony; the royal title and the crown are borne by one, but all his
brothers reign with him. Who would not regard Attalus, the next in age, as a
king, not only because he sees him in such a powerful position now, but also
because the day is near when he will ascend the throne owing to the age and
weakness of Eumenes, who has no legitimate son? (He had not yet
acknowledged the one who succeeded him.) What advantage would there be
in trying to gain by violent means what would shortly come to him of its own
accord? A fresh storm had burst on the realm in an invasion of the Gauls
which could with difficulty be withstood even by the combined and
harmonious efforts of the two monarchs. "If, however, in addition to a
foreign foe there was domestic strife, resistance would be impossible, and all
that would be gained would be that your brother would lose the crown
before his death and you would destroy all hopes of your succeeding him.
Even assuming that to save the kingdom for your brother and to wrest it
from him were both things you could boast about, still the preservation of
the kingdom and the proof it would afford of your brotherly affection would
be the more commendable and praiseworthy. But as a matter of fact the one
alternative is detestable and is next door to parricide; why then should there
be any doubt as to which course to take? Are you going to try and secure a
part of the kingdom or deprive your brother of the whole? If the former,
then, your power being divided, you would be both weakened and exposed
to every possible injury and outrage. If the latter, are you prepared to send
your elder brother into private life or into banishment, old and infirm as he is,
and at last to a lonely exile's death? For, without recalling the legendary
stories of unnatural brothers, what a signal warning is given in the fate of
Perseus, who laid at the feet of his conqueror the diadem stained with his
brother's blood which he had seized in the temple at Samothrace, as though
the gods who witnessed the murder were now exacting the penalty. The very
men who are goading you on, not because they are friendly to you, but
because they are enemies to Eumenes, will themselves applaud your
affection and constancy if you maintain your loyalty to your brother to the
end."