A few days after Eumenes' speech, the senate received envoys from Perseus. They said that Perseus had not said or done anything hostile. However, the senators did not believe this and "their ears had been captured by Eumenes". They felt affronted when the leader of the embassy said that if Perseus saw that the Romans were bent on an excuse for war, he would respond with courage and that "the chances of war were the same for both sides and the issue was uncertain." When they returned to Macedon they told Perseus that the Romans were not preparing for war, but they were so embittered with him that they might do so soon. Perseus thought that this might be possible. He was determined to begin the war by shedding the blood of Eumenes, whom he hated, and called for Euander, a leader of Cretan mercenaries, and three Macedonian killers to arrange the assassination of Eumenes.