XXIII. In the battle, Epameinondas brought his main body slantingly towards the left, in order that the Spartan right might be drawn as far as possible away from the other Greeks, and that by falling violently on Kleombrotus with his whole force on that wing, he might overpower and crush him. The enemy, perceiving what was being done, began to alter their own formation, extending their right, with the intention of outflanking and enveloping Epameinondas. At this moment Pelopidas charged with the Three Hundred in serried ranks. He caught the Lacedæmonians in a moment of confusion, when they were not standing ready to make an attack, for Kleombrotus had not time either to extend his right, or to bring the troops back again and close up the ranks. Yet the Spartans, skilled as they were to the highest pitch in war, had been specially educated and practised in changing their formation without disorder or confusion; each man used any other as his right-hand or rear-rank man, and wherever danger threatened they would meet it, forming and fighting simultaneously. But now, when the main Theban phalanx under Epameinondas, projecting before all the rest of the line, bore down upon them, and when Pelopidas, by a charge of inconceivable speed and daring was already amongst their ranks, their spirit and discipline was so shaken that the rout and slaughter of the Spartans was such as had never been before. In this victory and success as much glory belonged to Pelopidas, though not one of the generals, and only in command of a few men, as to Epameinondas, who was Bœotarch and leader of the whole force.