But the forces of Sitalkês, collected from many different portions
of Thrace, were tardy in coming together. He summoned all the tribes
under his dominion, between Hæmus, Rhodopê, and the two seas:
the Getæ, between Mount Hæmus and the Danube, equipped like the
Scythians, their neighbors on the other side of the river, with bow
and arrow on horseback, also joined him, as well as the Agrianes,
the Lææi, and the other Pæonian tribes subject to his dominion;
lastly, several of the Thracian tribes called Dii, distinguished by
their peculiar short swords, and maintaining a fierce independence
on the heights of Rhodopê, were tempted by the chance of plunder,
or the offer of pay, to flock to his standard. Altogether, his
army amounted, or was supposed to amount, to one hundred and fifty
thousand men, one third of it cavalry, who were for the most part
Getæ and Odrysians proper. The most formidable warriors in his camp
were the independent tribes of Rhodopê; but the whole host, alike
numerous, warlike, predatory, and cruel, spread terror amidst all
those who were within even the remote possibilities of its march.
Starting from the central Odrysian territory, and bringing with him
Agnon and the other Athenian envoys, he first crossed the uninhabited
mountain called Kerkinê, which divided the Pæonians on the west from
the Thracian tribes called Sinti and Mædi on the east, until he
reached the Pæonian town or district called Dobêrus;[366] it was
here that many troops and additional volunteers reached him, making
up his full total. From Dobêrus, probably marching down along one
of the tributary streams of the Axius, he entered into that portion
of Upper Macedonia, which lies along the higher Axius, and which
had constituted the separate principality of Philip: the presence
in his army of Amyntos son of Philip, induced some of the fortified
places, Gortynia, Atalantê, and others, to open their gates without
resistance, while Eidomenê was taken by storm, and Eurôpus in vain
attacked. From hence, he passed still farther southward into Lower
Macedonia, the kingdom of Perdikkas; ravaging the territory on both
sides of the Axius even to the neighborhood of the towns Pella and
Kyrrhus; and apparently down as far south as the mouth of the river
and the head of the Thermaic gulf. Farther south than this he did not
go, but spread his force over the districts between the left bank of
the Axius and the head of the Strymonic gulf,—Mygdonia, Krestônia,
and Anthemus,—while a portion of his army was detached to overrun the
territory of the Chalkidians and Bottiæans. The Macedonians under
Perdikkas, renouncing all idea of contending on foot against so
overwhelming a host, either fled or shut themselves up in the small
number of fortified places which the country presented. The cavalry
from Upper Macedonia, indeed, well armed and excellent, made some
orderly and successful charges against the Thracians, lightly armed
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