PERGAMUS, an ancient kingdom of Asia, formed out of the ruins of the empire of Alexander the Great. It commenced about the year 283 before our era. The first sovereign was one Philetaerus, an eunuch, by birth a Paphlagonian, a man of mean descent, and in his youth a menial servant to Antigonus, one of Alexander’s captains. He afterwards served Lysimachus, king of Macedonia and Thrace, who appointed him keeper of his treasures lodged in Pergamus. Whilst he held this employment, having fallen under the displeasure of Arsinoe, wife of Lysimachus, she found means to excite a quarrel between him and his master; upon which Philetaerus seized on the castle of Pergamus, together with the treasures intrusted to his care, amounting to ninety thousand talents. At first he offered his service, together with his treasure, to Seleucus, the king of Syria; but both Seleucus and Lysimachus dying soon afterwards, he kept possession of the town and treasure until his death, which happened twenty years after his revolt from Lysimachus.

Philetaerus left the city of Pergamus to his brother, or, according to some, to his brother’s son, Eumenes the First, who, laying hold of the opportunity offered by the dissensions amongst the Seleucidae, possessed himself j)f many strongholds in the province of Asia; and, having hired a body of Galatians, defeated Antiochus as he was returning from a victory gained over his brother Seleucus Callinicus. By this victory he obtained possession of the greater part of Asia. But he did not long enjoy his acquisitions; for he died next year of immoderate drinking, a vice to which he was greatly addicted.

Eumenes was succeeded by Attalus the First, nephew of Philetaerus, who, on his accession, assumed the title of king of Pergamus. He defeated the Gauls, who seemed desirous of settling in his territory; and, according to Livy, he was the first of the Asiatic princes who refused to pay a contribution to these barbarians. When Selèucus Cera-nus[7:17:229] was engaged in other wars, he invaded his territories, and conquered all the provinces on the Anatolian side of the Taurus; but was soon driven out of his new acquisitions by Seleucus and his grandfather Achaeus, who, entering into an alliance against him, deprived him of all his newly-acquired territories, and even besieged him in his capital. Upon this Attalus invited to his assistance the Gauls who had settled in Thrace; and with their help he not only obliged the enemy to raise the siege of Pergamus, but quickly recovered all the provinces he had lost. After this he invaded Ionia and the neighbouring provinces, where several cities voluntarily submitted to his sway. The Teians, Colophonians, and the inhabitants of Aegea and Lemnos, sent deputies declaring themselves ready to acknowledge him as their sovereign; and the Carsenes, on the other side of the river Lycus, opened their gates to him, having first expelled the governor placedover them by Achaeus. Thence he advanced to Apia, and encamping on the banks of the river Megithus, received homage from the neighbouring nations. But here the Gauls, being frightened by an eclipse of the moon, refused to proceed farther; a circumstance which obliged Attalus to return to the Hellespont, where he allowed his allies to settle, giving them a large and fruitful territory, and promising that he would always assist and protect them to the utmost of his power.

Attalus having thus settled his affairs with equal honour and advantage to himself, entered into an alliance with the Romans, and afterwards joined them in their war against Philip, king of Macedonia. Here he had the command of the Rhodian fleet, with which he not only drove the Macedonians quite out of the Greek seas, but having landed his men, he, in conjunction with the Athenians, invaded Macedonia, and obliged Philip to raise the siege of Athens, which he had greatly distressed. For these services the Athenians not only heaped on him all the favours they could bestow, but called one of their tribes by his name; an honour which they had never before bestowed upon any foreigner.

Attalus now attempted to organise a general confederacy of the Greeks against Philip. But whilst he was haranguing the Boeotians with a view to this object, and exhorting them with great vehemence to enter into an alliance with the Romans against their common enemy, he fell down speechless. However, having somewhat recovered, he desired to be carried by sea from Thebes to Pergamus, where he died soon after his arrival, in the seventy-second year of his age and forty-third of his reign.

Attalus was succeeded by his eldest son Eumenes the Second. The latter was exceedingly attached to the Romans, insomuch that he refused the daughter of Antiochus the Great in marriage, lest he should thus be led into a quarrel with that people. He also gave intimation to the Roman senate of the transactions of Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia, who was making great preparations both by sea and land. Nor did Eumenes stop here; for when he saw the war about to break out between Antiochus and the Romans, he sent his brother Attalus to Rome in order to give information of the proceedings of Antiochus. The senate heaped honours both on Eumenes and his brother; and in the war which followed, they gave the command of their fleet to the king of Pergamus, in conjunction with C. Livius Salinator. The victory gained on this occasion was in a great measure owing to Eumenes, who boarded some of the enemy’s ships in person, and during the whole action behaved with uncommon bravery. Some time afterwards, Eumenes, having entered the territories of Antiochus with a body of five thousand men, ravaged all the country about Thyatira, and returned with an immense booty. But in the mean time Antiochus invaded Pergamus in his turn, ravaged the whole country, and even laid siege to the capital. Attalus, the king’s brother, held out with a handful of men, until the Achaeans, who were in alliance with Eumenes, sent a thousand foot and a hundred horse to his assistance. As this small body of auxiliaries were all chosen men, and commanded by an experienced officer, they behaved with such bravery that the Syrians were obliged to raise the siege. At the battle of Magnesia, too, Eumenes behaved with the greatest bravery, not only sustaining the first attack of the enemy’s elephants, but driving them back again upon their own troops; which threw the ranks in disorder, and gave the Romans an opportunity of giving them a total defeat, by attacking them opportunely with their horse. In consequence of this defeat, Antiochus was obliged to conclude a peace with the Romans on such terms as they pleased to prescribe; one of which was, that he should pay Eumenes four hundred talents, and a quantity of corn, in recompense for the damage he had done to that prince.

Soon after this Eumenes was engaged in a contest with Prusias, king of Bithynia, who made war upon him by the advice of Hannibal, the celebrated Carthaginian general. But Eumenes, being assisted by the Romans, defeated Prusias in an engagement by sea, and another by land; disasters which so disheartened him, that he was ready to accept of peace on any terms. However, before the treaty was concluded, Hannibal found means to draw into the confederacy Philip of Macedonia, who sent Philocles, an old and experienced officer, with a considerable body of troops, to join Prusias. Eumenes then sent his brother Attalus to Rome with a golden crown, worth fifteen thousand talents, to complain of Prusias for making war on the allies of the Roman people without any provocation. The senate accepted the present, and promised to adjust every thing to the satisfaction of their friend Eumenes, whom they looked upon as the most steady ally they could boast of in Asia. But in the mean time, Prusias, having ventured another sea-fight, gained a complete victory by a contrivance of Hannibal. The greatest part of the ships of Eumenes were burned, several were taken, and the others were so much shattered that they became quite unserviceable. The same year Prusias gained over Eumenes two remarkable victories by land, both of which were entirely owing to stratagems of Hannibal. But, whilst matters were thus going on to the disadvantage of Eumenes, the Romans interfered, and by their deputies not only put an end to the differences between the two kings, but prevailed on Prusias to betray Hannibal; upon which the illustrious fugitive poisoned himself.

Eumenes being thus freed from such a dangerous enemy, engaged in a new war with the kings of Cappadocia and Pontus, in which also he proved victorious. His friendship for the Romans he carried to such a degree of enthusiasm, that he went in person to Rome to inform them of the machinations of Perses king of Macedonia. He had before quarrelled with the Rhodians, who sent ambassadors to Rome to complain of him. But as the ambassadors happened to arrive whilst the king himself was present in the city, the Rhodian ambassadors could not obtain any hearing, and Eumenes was dismissed with new marks of favour. This journey, however, had almost proved fatal to him; for, on his return, as he was going toperform a sacrifice at Delphi, two assassins, sent by Perses, rolled down two great stones upon him as he entered the straits of the mountains. By one of these he was dangerously wounded on the head, and by the other he received a contusion on the shoulder. In consequence of the blows, he fell from a steep place, and thus received so many other bruises, that when he was carried on board his ship it could not well be known whether he was dead or alive. His people, however, finding that he was still alive, conveyed him to Corinth, and from Corinth to Aegina, having caused their vessels to be carried over the isthmus.
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Eumenes remained at Aegina till his wounds were cured, which was done with so great secrecy, that a report of his death was spread all over Asia, and even believed at Rome; nay, his brother Attalus was so convinced of the truth of this report, that he not only assumed the government, but even married Stratonice the wife of Eumenes. But in a short time Eumenes convinced both parties of his being alive, by returning to his kingdom. On receiving this intelligence, Attalus resigned the sovereignty in great haste, and went to meet his brother, carrying a halberd, as one of his guards. Eumenes received both him and the queen with great tenderness; only it is said he whispered in his brother’s ear when he first saw him, “Be in no haste to marry my wife again till you are sure I am dead.”

The king joined the Romans in their war against Perses; but during the course of it he suddenly cooled in his affection towards those allies whom he had hitherto served with so much zeal, and that to such a degree that he admitted ambassadors from Perses, and offered to remain neutral if the latter would pay him a thousand talents, and, for fifteen hundred, to influence the Romans to grant him a safe and honourable peace. But these negociations were broken off, by reason of the distrust which these two kings had of each other. Eumenes would not trust Perses unless he paid him the money beforehand; whilst, on the other hand, Perses did not care to part with the money until Eumenes had first performed what he promised; neither could he be induced to pay the sum in question, though the king of Pergamus offered to give hostages for the due performance of his promise. These negociations were as long as possible concealed from the Romans; but they at length came to be known, after which the republic began to entertain no little jealousy of their old friend, and therefore heaped favours upon his brother Attalus. Eumenes had sent him to Rome to congratulate the senate on the happy issue of the war with Perses, not thinking that his own practices had been discovered. However, the senate, without taking any notice of their disaffection towards Eumenes, entertained Attalus with the greatest magnificence; then several of the senators who visited him proceeded to acquaint him with their suspicions of the king, and desired Attalus to treat with them in his own name, assuring him that the kingdom of Pergamus would be granted him by the senate if he demanded it. Eumenes, alarmed at these proceedings, resolved to proceed in person to Rome, in order to justify himself. But the senate having already condemned him in their own minds, resolved not to hear his vindication, and made an act that no king should be permitted to enter the gates of Rome. Eumenes, who knew nothing of this, set forward on his journey, and landed at Brundusium; but no sooner did the Roman senate receive intelligence of his arrival, than they sent ∙a quaestor to acquaint him with the decree of the senate, and at the same time to apprise him, that if he had any business to transact with the senate, he was appointed to hear it, and transmit it to them, but if not, that the king must leave Italy without delay. To this Eumenes replied, that he had no business of any consequence to transact, and that he did not stand in need of any of their assistance; and, without saying a word more, went on board his ship, and returned to Pergamus. On his return, the Gauls, encouraged by the cold reception which he had met with at Rome, invaded his territories, but were repulsed with great loss. This produced new complaints at Rome, and Eumenes was accused of keeping up a secret correspondence with the king of Macedonia; and the senators having conceived the most implacable hatred against him, seemed absolutely bent on his destruction, when he died, in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, leaving his kingdom and his wife to his brother Attalus.

Attalus, in the commencement of his reign, found himself greatly distressed by Prusias king of Bithynia, who not only overthrew him in a pitched battle, but advanced to the very walls of Pergamus, ravaging the country as he marched along, and at last reduced the royal city itself. The king, however, saved himself by a timely flight, and despatched ambassadors to Rome, complaining of the conduct of Prusias. The latter endeavoured to defend himself, and to throw the blame on Attalus. But, after a proper inquiry was made into the matter, Prusias was found to be entirely in the wrong, and was at last obliged to conclude a peace with his adversary upon the following terms, viz. that he should immediately deliver up to Attalus twenty ships with decks; that he should pay five hundred talents to Attalus within the space of twenty years; that he should pay a hundred talents to some of the other Asiatic nations, by way of reparation for the damages they had sustained from him; and that both parties should be content with what they had possessed before the beginning of the war. The last enterprise in which we find Attalus engaged was against Andriseus, the pretended son of Perses, .king of Macedonia, in which he assisted the Romans. After this he gave himself up to ease and luxury, committing state affairs entirely to his ministers; and thus continued till his death, which happened in the eighty-second year of his age, and about 138 years before our era.

Attalus the Second was succeeded by Attalus the Third, the son of Eumenes; for the late king, considering that he only held the crown as a trust for his nephew, passed by his own children in order to give it to him, though he appears to have been by no means worthy of it. He is said to have been deprived of his senses through the violence of his grief for his mother’s death; and, indeed, throughout bis whole reign, he behaved more like a madman than a person of sane mind. On the death of this tyrant, a will was found, by which he left the Roman people heirs of all his goods; upon which they seized on the kingdom, and reduced it to a province of their empire by the name of Asia Proper. But Aristonicus, a son of Eumenes by an Ephesian courtesan, reckoning himself the lawful heir to the crown, and being by no means satisfied with this usurpation of the Romans, assembled a considerable army in order to maintain his pretensions. The people in general, having been accustomed to a monarchy, dreaded a republican form of government; and having, in consequence, assisted Aristonicus, they soon put him in a condition to reduce the whole kingdom to obedience. The news, however, were speedily carried to Rome; and Licinius Crassus, the pontifex maximus, was sent into the East, with orders to enforce submission to the king’s will. Historians take no notice of any forces which were sent along with this commander; from which it is supposed, that he depended on assistance from the Asiatics, who were in alliance with Rome, or from the Egyptians. But when he went thither, he found both the Syrians and Egyptians so reduced that he could not expect any assistance from them. However, he was soon supplied with troops by the kings of Pontus, Bithynia, Cappadocia, and Paphlagonia; but he managed matters so ill that he was entirely defeated and taken prisoner. Those who took him designed to carry him to Aristonicus; but Crassus, not being able to endure the disgrace, would have laid violent hands on himself if he had not been disarmed.

∕∖,ristonicus did not long enjoy the fruits of his victory. Indeed he behaved very improperly after it; for, instead of preparing to oppose the next army, which he might have been assured the Romans would send against him, he spent his time in feasting and revelling. But he was soon roused out of his lethargy by Perpenna, the new consul, who having assembled with incredible expedition the troops of the allies, came unexpectedly upon him, obliged him to venture an engagement at a disadvantage, and entirely defeated him. Aristonicus fled to a city called [7:17:231]Stratonice, but was so closely pursued by the conqueror, that the garrison, having no means of supplying themselves with provisions, delivered up their leader, as well as a philosopher named Blosius, who had been the companion and counsellor of Aristonicus. The philosopher behaved with great resolution after being taken, and openly defended his siding with Aristonicus, because he thought his cause just. He exhorted the latter to prevent the disgrace and misery of captivity by a voluntary death; but Aristonicus, looking upon death as a greater misery than any captivity, suffered himself to be treated as his conquerors pleased.

In the mean time, a new consul, named Manius Aquilius, having arrived from Rome, sent a haughty message to Perpenna, requiring him immediately to deliver up Aristonicus as a captive belonging to his triumph when the war should be ended. with this demand Perpenna refused to comply, and his refusal had almost produced a civil war; but this was prevented by the death of Perpenna, which happened soon after the dispute commenced. The Pergamenians, notwithstanding the defeat and captivity of their leader, still held out with such obstinacy, that Aquilius was obliged to besiege, and take by force, almost every city in the kingdom. At last, however, the whole country being reduced, Aquilius triumphed, and the unhappy Aristonicus, being led in chains before his chariot, probably ended his miserable life in a dungeon.