XXII.  While the chiefs of the army were engaged in this discussion, and Pelopidas especially was at a loss what to do, a filly escaped from some horses at pasture, and running through the ranks stopped opposite them.  They admired her coat shining with the brightest red, and the mettled courage of her neigh, but Theokritus the prophet, comprehending what was meant, called to Pelopidas:  “Happy man!  Here is your victim; let us not expect any other virgin, but take the gift the gods provide you.”  Hereupon they caught the filly and led it to the tombs of the maidens.  Here, after prayer, they hung garlands on the tombs, and made the sacrifice with joy, explaining to the whole army the vision of Pelopidas and their reasons for the sacrifice.

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 Lacedaemonians 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 Boeotarch and leader of the whole force.

XXIV.  In the invasion of Peloponnesus they were both Boeotarchs, and they brought over to their side most of the nations there, for they detached from the Lacedaemonian alliance Elis, Argos, the whole of Arcadia, and most part of Laconia itself.  It was mid-winter, a few days only remained of the last month, and with the new year the law was that the commands should be delivered up and new generals chosen.  Death was the penalty in case of disobedience, and all the other Boeotarchs, fearing this law and wishing to avoid the severe weather, wished to withdraw the army homewards, but Pelopidas first, supported by