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

Victory and Death 263
like a ship-of-war prow forward. Wherever he brought
his solid
wedge to bear, he meant to cleave through the
opposing mass and crumble his adversary's host to pieces.
With this design he prepared to throw the brunt of the
fighting on the strongest half of his army, while he kept
the weaker portion of it in the background, knowing certainly
that if worsted it would only cause discouragement
to his own division and add force to the foe. The cavalry
on the side of his opponents were disposed like an ordinary
phalanx of heavy infantry, regular in depth and unsupported
by foot-soldiers interspersed among the horses.
Epaminondas again differed in strengthening the attacking
point of his cavalry, besides which he interspersed
footmen between their lines in the belief that, when he had
once cut through the cavalry, he would have wrested
victory from the antagonist along his whole line; so hard
is it to find troops who will care to keep their ground when
once they see any of their own side flying. Lastly, to
prevent any attempt on the part of the Athenians, who
were on the enemy's left wng, to bring up their reliefs in
support of the portion next them, he posted bodies of
cavalry and heavy infantry on certain hillocks in front of
them, intending to create in their minds an apprehension
that, in case they offered such assistance, they would be
attacked on their own rear by these detachments.
Such
was the plan of encounter which he formed and executed;
nor was he cheated in his hopes. He had so much the At this point
he was mor-
tally
mastery at his point of attack that he caused the whole of
the enemy's troops to take to flight.
But after he himself had fallen, the rest of the Thebans
were not able any longer to turn their victory rightly to
account. Though the main battle Hne of their opponents
had given way, not a single man afterward did the victori-
Effect of his
death,