IX. Success exalts even mean minds, and men always appear to have a certain dignity when in high station and power; but the truly great man proves his greatness more by the way in which he bears up against misfortunes and endures evil days, as did Eumenes. He was defeated by Antigonus in Southern Cappadocia by treachery, but when forced to retreat he did not allow the traitor who had betrayed him to make good his escape to Antigonus, but took him and hanged him on the spot. He managed to retreat by a different road to that on which the enemy were pursuing, and then suddenly turning about, encamped on the battle-field of the day before. Here he collected the dead bodies, burned them with the timber of the houses in the neighbouring villages, and raised separate barrows over the remains of the officers and the men--monuments of his hardihood and presence of mind which excited the admiration of Antigonus himself when he again passed that way. The two armies were still sometimes so near each other, that Eumenes once had an opportunity of making himself master of the whole of the enemy's baggage, which would have enriched his troops with an immense booty. He feared that the possession of such wealth would render them eager to quit his toilsome and perilous service, and sent secret warning under the pretext of private friendship to Menander, the general who had been left in charge of the baggage, and enabled him to withdraw into an unassailable position. This seemingly generous action excited the gratitude of the Macedonians, whose wives and children it had saved from slavery and dishonour, till Antigonus pointed out to them that Eumenes had spared them only that he might not encumber himself.[173] X. After this, Eumenes, who was being constantly pursued by a superior force, recommended the greater part of his men to return to their homes. This he did either because he was anxious for their safety, or because he did not wish to drag about with him a force which was too small to fight, and too large to move with swiftness and secrecy. He himself took refuge in the impregnable fortress of Nora, on the borders of Cappadocia and Lycaonia, with five hundred horse and two hundred foot soldiers, and dismissed from thence with kind speeches and embraces, all of his friends who wished to leave the fortress, dismayed by the prospect of the dreary imprisonment which awaited them during a long siege in such a place. Antigonus when he arrived summoned Eumenes to a conference before beginning the siege, to which he answered, that Antigonus had many friends and officers, while he had none remaining with him, so that unless Antigonus would give him hostages for his safety, he would not trust himself with him. Upon this Antigonus bade him remember that he was speaking to his superior. "While I can hold my sword," retorted Eumenes, "I acknowledge no man as my superior." However, after Antigonus had sent his cousin Ptolemæus into the fortress, as Eumenes had demanded, he came down to meet Antigonus, whom he embraced in a friendly manner, as became men who had once been intimate friends and comrades. They talked for a long time, and Eumenes astonished all the assembly by his courage and spirit; for he did not ask for his life, and for peace, as they expected, but demanded to be reinstated in his government, and to have all the grants which he had received from Perdikkas restored to him. The Macedonians meanwhile flocked round him, eager to see what sort of man this Eumenes was, of whom they had heard so much; for since the death of Kraterus no one had been talked of so much as Eumenes in the Macedonian camp. Antigonus began to fear for his safety; he ordered them to keep at a distance, and at last throwing his arms round the waist of Eumenes conducted him back through a passage formed by his guards to the foot of the fortress.