Spartan Mora regiments at Battle of Plataea

[PMBardunias]

As to brigading, the Thebans used the Sacred Band “in the forefront of danger” after their display at Tegyra. This suggests the position where the attack would be made – in the case of Leuktra on the left and as the “spear point” of the column.

Plutarch seems clear to me. Perhaps there is reason to doubt him, but I don't see why on a point like this. The most important point is that they were not simply a veneer for poorer troops, but a single unit. Where they were used is a second concern.

3 Gorgidas, then, by distributing this sacred band among the front ranks of the whole phalanx of men-at?arms, made the high excellence of the men inconspicuous, and did not direct their strength upon a common object, since it was dissipated and blended with that of a large body of inferior troops; but Pelopidas, after their valour had shone out at Tegyra, where they fought by themselves and about his own person, never afterwards divided or scattered them, p389but, treating them as a unit, put them into the forefront of the greatest conflicts. 4 For just as horses run faster when yoked to a chariot than when men ride them singly, not because they cleave the air with more impetus owing to their united weight, but because their mutual rivalry and ambition inflame their spirits; so he thought that brave men were most ardent and serviceable in a common cause when they inspired one another with a zeal for high achievement.