Cornelius Nepos : Life of Eumenes
When Alexander died at Babylon, his provinces were divided among his friends and the supreme power was committed to the care of Perdiccas, to whom Alexander on his death-bed had given his ring. 2 From this act of Alexander's all had inferred that he had entrusted the rule to Perdiccas until his own children should come of age; for Craterus and Antipater were not present, who obviously had better claims than Perdiccas; Hephaestion was dead, whom Alexander esteemed most of all, as could readily be seen. At that time Cappadocia was given to Eumenes, or rather, promised to him, since it was then in possession of the enemy. 3 Perdiccas had made every effort to win his friendship, realising the man's great loyalty and ability, and had no doubt that, if he should gain his regard, Eumenes would be very useful to him in carrying out his plans; for it was his design to do what almost all who hold great power aspire to, namely, seize the shares of all the others and unite them. 4 But he was not the only one who had this design, for it was entertained by all the rest who had been friends of Alexander. First, Leonnatus proposed to usurp Macedonia, and tried by many lavish promises to induce Eumenes to desert Perdiccas and form an alliance with him. 5 Failing in that, Leonnatus tried to kill Eumenes, and would have succeeded if his intended victim had not eluded his guards by night and made his escape.