History of the Peloponnesian War

For if any one had reckoned the public expenditure of the state, and the private outlay of individuals; with regard to the state, what sums it had already spent upon it, and what it was sending out in the hands of the generals;

and with regard to individuals, what each had laid out on his personal equipment, and, in the case of a captain, on his ship, with what he was likely to lay out still; and, moreover, what it was probable that every one had provided, independently of his pay from the treasury, towards the expenses of a voyage expected to be so long; and what each soldier or trader took with him for the purpose of exchange; [if all these sums, I say, had been calculated,] it would have been found that many talents in all were being taken out of the city. And the expedition was no less celebrated through men's astonishment at its boldness, and the splendour of its appearance, than for the superiority of the armament, compared with those whom they were going to attack;

and from the fact of its being the longest passage from their own country that had hitherto been undertaken, and with the greatest hope of future advantages in comparison with their present means.