§2.98.1Σιτάλκης μὲν οὖν χώρας τοσαύτης βασιλεύων παρεσκευάζετο τὸν στρατόν.
Sitalces then, ruling over so great a territory, was preparing his army.
καὶ ἐπειδὴ αὐτῷ ἑτοῖμα ἦν, ἄρας ἐπορεύετο ἐπὶ τὴν Μακεδονίαν πρῶτον μὲν διὰ τῆς αὑτοῦ ἀρχῆς, ἔπειτα διὰ Κερκίνης ἐρήμου ὄρους, ὅ ἐστι μεθόριον Σιντῶν καὶ Παιόνων·
And when everything was ready for him, he set out and marched toward Macedonia, first through his own territory, and then through the desert mountain Cercine, which is the boundary between the Sinti and the Paeonians.
ἐπορεύετο δὲ δι’ αὐτοῦ τῇ ὁδῷ ἣν πρότερον αὐτὸς ἐποιήσατο τεμὼν τὴν ὕλην, ὅτε ἐπὶ Παίονας ἐστράτευσεν.
He marched through it by the road which he himself had previously made by cutting down the forest when he campaigned against the Paeonians.
§2.98.2τὸ δὲ ὄρος ἐξ Ὀδρυσῶν διιόντες ἐν δεξιᾷ μὲν εἶχον Παίονας, ἐν ἀριστερᾷ δὲ Σιντοὺς καὶ Μαιδούς.
Crossing the mountain from the country of the Odrysians, they had the Paeonians on their right, and the Sinti and Maedi on their left.
διελθόντες δὲ αὐτὸ ἀφίκοντο ἐς Δόβηρον τὴν Παιονικήν.
And having passed through it, they arrived at Doberus in Paeonia.
§2.98.3πορευομένῳ δὲ αὐτῷ ἀπεγίγνετο μὲν οὐδὲν τοῦ στρατοῦ εἰ μή τι νόσῳ, προσεγίγνετο δέ· πολλοὶ γὰρ τῶν αὐτονόμων Θρᾳκῶν ἀπαράκλητοι ἐφ’ ἁρπαγὴν ἠκολούθουν, ὥστε τὸ πᾶν πλῆθος λέγεται οὐκ ἔλασσον πέντε καὶ δέκα μυριάδων γενέσθαι·
As he marched, no part of his army was lost except by disease, but rather it was increased; for many of the independent Thracians followed him unsummoned for the sake of plunder, so that the whole multitude is said to have become not less than a hundred and fifty thousand.
§2.98.4καὶ τούτου τὸ μὲν πλέον πεζὸν ἦν, τριτημόριον δὲ μάλιστα ἱππικόν.
And of this, the greater part was infantry, and about one-third was cavalry.
τοῦ δ’ ἱππικοῦ τὸ πλεῖστον αὐτοὶ Ὀδρύσαι παρείχοντο καὶ μετ’ αὐτοὺς Γέται.
Of the cavalry, the Odrysians themselves furnished the greatest part, and after them the Getae.
τοῦ δὲ πεζοῦ οἱ μαχαιροφόροι μαχιμώτατοι μὲν ἦσαν οἱ ἐκ τῆς Ῥοδόπης αὐτόνομοι καταβάντες, ὁ δὲ ἄλλος ὅμιλος ξύμμεικτος πλήθει φοβερώτατος ἠκολούθει.
Of the infantry, the sword-bearing independent Thracians who came down from Rhodope were the most warlike, while the rest of the mixed multitude followed, most formidable in their numbers.