History of the Peloponnesian War

While he was on the march, there was no diminution of his army, (except by disease,) but accessions to it; for many of the independent Thracians, though uninvited, followed him for plunder; so that the whole number is said to have been not less than one hundred and fifty thousand, of which the greater part was infantry, but about a third cavalry.

Of the cavalry the Odrysians themselves furnished the largest portion; next to them, the Getae. Of the infantry, the most warlike were those armed with swords, the independent tribe that came down from Rhodope; the rest of the mixed multitude that followed him, was far more formidable for its numbers than any thing else.

They mustered, then, at Doberus, and made their preparations for bursting from the highland down upon the lower Macedonia, which formed the dominion of Perdiccas.

For under the name of Macedonians are included also the Lyncestae and Elemiotae, and other highland tribes, which are in alliance with the lowlanders and subject to them, but have separate kingdoms of their own.