Eumenes and his forces spent the winter of 320-319 in Nora, but when spring came, he managed to escape with all his men while negotiating with Antigonus over terms for Eumenes and his men to join Antigonus now that Antipater was dead. Many of Eumenes' men who he had dismissed before the siege rejoined him, bringing his forces back up to about a thousand cavalry.
Eumenes received letters from Olympias, Alexander's mother, asking him to help her assert her authority in Macedon on behalf of Alexander's son. He advised her to wait until the boy was old enough to rule, but she didn't follow his advice, and seized power in Macedon. She then commissioned Eumenes to fight against Antigonus on her behalf, and wrote to the governors loyal to her, and Antigenes and Teutamus, the commanders of the elite force of the Argyraspids (the Silver Shields), ordering them to support him.
Because, as a non-Macedonian, Eumenes still faced some hostility and envy from the Macedonians, he announced that Alexander had told him in a dream to set up a council of leaders to meet daily in a special tent with an empty throne where Alexander himself would join them to guide their deliberations. Another way Eumenes used to safeguard himself against hostility was to borrow large sums of money from the people most hostile to him, hoping they would realise that if they killed him, they would never get their money back.
A recurring problem for Eumenes was that in winter (when campaigns were not usual) his soldiers tended to scatter with complete lack of discipline to pass the time wherever they wanted. Antigonus tried to take advantage of this fact in the winter of 317-316. He led his men on a ten-day march through the desert to attack Eumenes, choosing this route in the hope that his approach would remain a secret. Unfortunately, because of the cold in the desert at night, his men disobeyed him and lit fires to keep warm, thus giving the game away when they were still only halfway there.
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