A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

Condition of the Fleet 219
came out of curiosity, desiring to witness an enterprise of
which the greatness exceeded belief.
No armament so magnificent or costly had ever been Excellent
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1 TT 11 • rr^i • ,• condition
sent out by any smgle Hellenic power. . . . This expedi- the fleet.
of
tion was intended to be long absent, and was thoroughly
provided both for sea and land service, wherever its
'
presence might be required. On the fleet the greatest
pains and expense had been lavished by the trierarchs
and the state. The public treasury gave a drachma a
day to each sailor, and furnished empty hulls for sixty
swift sailing vessels, and for forty transports carrying
hoplites. All these were manned with the best crews
which could be obtained. The trierarchs, besides the pay
given by the state, added somewhat more out of their
own means to the wages of the upper ranks of rowers and
of the petty officers. The figure-heads and other fittings
provided by them were of the most costly description.
Everyone strove to the utmost
that his own ship might
excel both in beauty and swiftness. The infantry had
been well selected and the lists carefully made up.
There
was the keenest rivalry among the soldiers in the matter
of arms and personal equipment.
And while at home the Athenians were thus competing
with one another in the performance of their several
duties, to the rest of Hellas the expedition seemed to be a
grand display of their power and greatness, rather than a
preparation for war. If any one had reckoned up the
whole expenditure (i) of the state, (2) of individual
soldiers and others, including in the first not only what
the city had already laid out, but what was intrusted to
the generals, and in the second what either at the time or
afterward private persons spent upon their outfit, or the
trierarchs upon their ships, the provisions for the long
Thucydides
^^'
The cost.