EUMENES II. eldest son of Attalus I. succeeded to the government of Pergamus on his father's death, 197 B. C., and continued to maintain the intimate alliance which it had been his father's policy to form with the Romans. Antiochus the Great, king of Syria, who at that time secretly meditated contesting the supremacy of the Romans, tried to seduce him by offering one of his daughters in marriage; but Eumenes suspecting the interested intentions of Antiochus, prudently refused the honour of this alliance. In the war which soon afterwards broke out he proved himself the firm friend of the Romans, and assisted Livius Salinator in his victory over the fleet of Antiochus (191 B. C.), on which occasion he was greatly distinguished for his bravery. Again, in the decisive battle
which was fought at the foot of Mount Sipylus, in which Antiochus was completely defeated (188 B. C.), the troops of Eumenes greatly distinguished themselves; and on the conclusion of peace this prince received a great addition to his territories at the expense of Antiochus. He was afterwards attacked by Prusias, king of Bithynia, whose forces were under the command of the celebrated Hannibal, and by Pharnaces, king of Pontus; but the powerful mediation of the Romans compelled all parties to lay down their arms. Having become acquainted with the designs of Perseus against the Romans, Eumenes set out for Rome (172 B. C.), to warn the senate of the preparations for war which were making against them. On his return he wished to offer sacrifices to Apollo at Delphi, when he was attacked by a party of assassins stationed by Perseus, and narrowly escaped with his life. He was then carried by his friends to the island of Ægina, where he remained in concealment for some time. A report of his death having reached his brother, the latter assumed the reins of government, and married Stratonice the wife of Eumenes. When he reappeared, this proceeding does not seem to have changed his conduct towards his brother; and they lived in the same amity as before. His close intimacy with the Romans seems to have been broken off towards the end of his reign, and that people endeavoured to embroil him with the neighbouring princes. In this embarrassing state of affairs he died 157 B. C. leaving his throne to his brother Attalus II. (See Sevin, Recherches sur les Rois de Pergame, in the Mémoires de l'Acad. des Inscrip. xii. p. 260.)