Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/88

 56 HISTORY OF GREECE. Philip, appears to have consisted, like that of Thessalv, in a well-armed and well-mounted cavalry, formed from the substan- tial proprietors of the country — and in a numerous assemblage of peltasts or light infantry (somewhat analogous to the Thes- salian Penestaj) : these latter Vr'ere the rural population, shep- herds or cultivators, who tended sheep and cattle, or tilled the earth, among the spacious mountains and valleys of Upper Mace- donia, The Grecian towns near the coast, and the few Mace- donian towns in the interior, had citizen-hoplites better armed ; but foot-service was not in honor among the natives, and the ' IMacedonian infantry in their general character were hardly more than a rabble. At the period of Philip's accession, they were armed with nothing better than rusty swords and wicker shields, noway sufficient to make head against the inroads of their Thra- fian and Illyrian neighbors ; before whom they were conslantly compelled to flee for refuge up into the mountains.' Their con- dition was that of a poor herdsman, half-naked or covered only with hides, and eating from wooden platters : not much different from that of the poj)ulation of Upper Macedonia three centuries before, when first visited by Perdikkas the ancestor of the Macedonian kings, and when the wife of the native prince baked bread with her own hands.^ On the other hand, though the Mace- donian infantry was thus indifferent, the cavalry of the country ' See the striking speech addressed by Alexander to the discontented Macedonian soldiers, a few months before his death, at Opis or Susa (Ar- rian, vii). ^iTiiTTTvoc yhp rrapa2,al3uv Vfiac 7r2,avfjTac Kat anopovg, kv 6i(f>-Bepaic Toiig noTilovg vtftovTac ava nl opri -npojiaTa Kara bXiya, Kat vrvip tovtuv KaKug fiaxofievovQ 'l?.?iVptolc re Kal Tpi0al?.olr koI toIc o/jopotg Opa^i, x^o- itvda^ /lev vfilv avrl ruv dc(p-&epC)v (popelv eSuics, KaTTjyayF. 6e ek -Civ bpuv ic Tu neSia, u^tofiuxovg KaraaTrjaag rolg rrpoffxtjpoic ruv (3ap.3upuv, wf fj^ Xupiuv Itl oxvpoTTjTi marevovTac /j.u?.?.ov y ry o'lKeia uperjj au^ea^ai In the version of the same speech given by Curtius (x. 10, 23), we find, " Modo sub Philippo seminudis, amicula ex purpur& sordent, aurum et argentum oculi fcrre non possunt : lignea enim vasa desiderant, et ex crati- bus scuta rubiginemque gladiorum," etc. Compare the description given by Thucydides, iv. 124, of the army cf Brasidas and Perdikkas, where the Macedonian foot arc described as aXXr.; ouiXoc; Tuv (3qpf3upuv Tro/li'f ' Herodot. viii. 137.