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gathering into one place, as if into a single channel formed by the stakes. And gradually ponding, the water filled the entire riverbed and began to reach a considerable depth, until it lifted the ships and both raised the vessels that had previously been resting on the ground and made them float high. And from then on, seizing the opportunity for easy sailing, the vessels were easily dragged to the sea.

4.4.1 Having learned of Robert's activities, the emperor immediately described in a letter to Pacurianus his irrepressible advance and how he had taken Aulon, having completely disregarded the terrible things that had happened to him on land and sea, nor that defeat which he had suffered, as they say, from the very first starting-line, and that he should not delay, but rather quickly gather his forces and unite with him. Such then were the instructions to Pacurianus; but he himself would immediately depart from Constantinople in the month of August of the fourth indiction, leaving Isaacius in the great city, with the purpose that affairs in the city should be settled, and if any discordant rumors from enemies were heard, as is usual, that he should both dispel them and guard the palace and the city, while at the same time soothing the grief-loving nature of the women. As for what pertained to his mother, she needed, I think, no help, as she was most vigorous and otherwise most skillful at managing affairs. Accordingly, Pacurianus, upon unrolling the letter, at that time appointed as his second-in-command Nicolaus Branas, a noble man with much experience in military matters. And he, with all the heavy infantry and men of higher fortune from Orestias, eagerly marched out, hastening to unite with the emperor.

4.4.2 And when the emperor arrived, he immediately arranged all the heavy infantry into battle formation, having appointed most noble men as commanders of the select troops, ordering them to proceed on the march in this way, wherever the terrain allowed it, so that, having learned the formation of the battle line and each man knowing his own position, they might remain in good order at the time of battle and not be easily moved about at random.

4.4.3 So Constantine Opos commanded the regiment of the Excubitors, Antiochus the Macedonians, and Alexander Kavasilas the Thessalians. Tatikios, at that time also grand primicerius, commanded the Turks living around Ochrid, being most noble and fearless in battles, but not of free birth by ancestry. For his father, being a Saracen, had come as booty to my paternal grandfather, John Comnenus. The commanders of the Manichaeans, numbering two thousand eight hundred, were Xantas and Kuleon, they too being of the same heresy. All these men were most warlike and most ready to taste the blood of their enemies when the occasion called, and furthermore they were reckless and shameless. Panukomites and Constantine Humbertopoulos, who had received his surname from his lineage, commanded his more intimate troops (custom calls them vestiaritai) and the Frankish regiments.

4.4.4 Having thus arranged the regiments, he set out with his whole army against Robert. But meeting someone coming from there and inquiring more clearly about the situation at Dyrrachium, he had learned that Robert, having moved up all the suitable engines for siege warfare, had approached the walls. But George Palaeologus, through every night and day, setting himself against the siege towers and engines from outside and, having already grown weary, threw open the gates and, sallying forth with his men, engaged in a fierce battle. And he was struck at a critical moment in various parts of his body, and especially about the temple as an arrow passed through. Which trying to pull out and being unable, having summoned one of the experienced men, he cut off the ends, both the spike

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τόπον ὥσπερ εἰς διώρυχα μίαν τὴν ἐκ τῶν πασσάλων γεγονυῖαν συναθροιζόμενον. Καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν ἀναλιμνάζον τὸ ὕδωρ τὴν κρηπῖδα πᾶσαν ἐπλήρου τοῦ ποταμοῦ καὶ εἰς βάθος ἀξιόλογον ἤρχετο, ἕως τὰς ναῦς ἀνεκούφισε καὶ τὰς τέως ἐρηρεισμένας νῆας τῇ γῇ ἀνέσχε τε καὶ ἀκρόπλους ἐποίησε. Καὶ τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦδε εὐπλοίας ἐπιδραξάμενα τὰ πλοῖα εὐκόλως πρὸς τὴν θάλασσαν εἱλκύσθησαν.

4.4.1 Μεμαθηκὼς δὲ τὰ κατὰ τὸν Ῥομπέρτον ὁ αὐτοκρά τωρ παραχρῆμα διὰ γραφῆς τῷ Πακουριανῷ τὴν αὐτοῦ ἀκάθεκτον ὁρμὴν παρίστησι καὶ ὅπως τὸν Αὐλῶνα κατέ λαβε, μὴ πεφροντικὼς ὅλως τῶν ξυμπεσόντων αὐτῷ δεινῶν κατ' ἤπειρόν τε καὶ θάλατταν μήτε τῆς ἥττης ἐκείνης, ἣν ἐκ πρώτης, ὅ φασιν, ἀφετηρίας ἐπεπόνθει, καὶ ὡς χρὴ μὴ μέλλειν, ἀλλὰ θᾶττον τὰς δυνάμεις ἐπισυν αγαγόντα ἑνωθῆναί οἱ. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν πρὸς τὸν Πακου ριανόν· αὐτὸς δὲ παραυτίκα τῆς Κωνσταντίνου ἔξεισιν εἰς μῆνα αὔγουστον τῆς τετάρτης ἐπινεμήσεως τὸν Ἰσαάκιον εἰς τὴν μεγαλόπολιν καταλιπών, ἐφ' ᾧ τὰ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ἑδράζεσθαι, καὶ εἴ πού τινες λόγοι ἀπᾴδοντες ἐξ ἐχθρῶν ἐξακούοιντο, ὁποῖα εἴωθεν, αὐτὸν διασκεδάζειν τε καὶ φρουρεῖν τὰ βασίλεια καὶ τὴν πόλιν, ἅμα καὶ τὸ τῶν γυναικῶν φιλοπενθὲς ἀνακτώμενον. Τὸ δέ γε εἰς τὴν μητέρα ἧκον οὐδεμιᾶς, ὡς οἶμαι, βοηθείας ἐδεῖτο ῥωμα λεωτάτης καθισταμένης ἐκείνης καὶ ἄλλως μεταχειρίσασθαι τὰ πράγματα δεξιωτάτης. Τοιγαροῦν τὸ γράμμα ὁ Πακου ριανὸς ἀνελίξας τηνικαῦτα ὑποστράτηγον προχειρίζεται Νικόλαον τὸν Βρανᾶν, ἄνδρα γενναῖον καὶ πολλὴν περὶ τὰ πολεμικὰ ἐμπειρίαν ἔχοντα. Ὁ δὲ μετὰ τοῦ ὁπλιτικοῦ παντὸς καὶ τῶν τῆς μείζονος τύχης τῆς Ὀρεστιάδος σπουδαίως ἔξεισιν ἑνωθῆναι τῷ βασιλεῖ ἐπειγόμενος. 4.4.2 Ἐφθακὼς δὲ καὶ ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ εὐθὺς εἰς πολέμου σχῆμα τὸ ὁπλιτικὸν ἅπαν κατέστησεν ἡγεμόνας τῶν λογά δων ἐπιστήσας ἄνδρας γενναιοτάτους, παρακελευσάμενος οὕτω τῆς ὁδοιπορίας ἔχεσθαι, οὗπερ ὁ τόπος αὐτοῖς τοῦτο δίδωσιν, ἵνα τὸ σχῆμα τῆς παρατάξεως διαγνόντες καὶ τὸν ἴδιον ἕκαστος γνωρίσας τόπον ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς μάχης ἀσύγχυτοι μένωσι καὶ μὴ ῥᾳδίως μεταφέροιντο καὶ ὡς ἔτυχεν. 4.4.3 Ἐξῆρχε μὲν οὖν τοῦ τῶν ἐξκουβιτῶν τάγ ματος Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ Ὦπος, τῶν Μακεδόνων ὁ Ἀντίοχος, τῶν Θετταλῶν δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Καβάσιλας, ὁ δέ γε Τατίκιος καὶ μέγας τῷ τότε πριμικήριος τῶν περὶ τὴν Ἀχριδὼ οἰκούντων Τούρκων ἡγεμόνευε, γενναιότατος ὢν καὶ ἀκατάπληκτος ἐν μάχαις, οὐκ ἐλευθέρας δὲ ὢν τύχης ἐκ προγόνων. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ Σαρακηνὸς ὢν ἐκ προνομῆς περιῆλθε τῷ πρὸς πατρὸς ἐμῷ πάππῳ Ἰωάννῃ τῷ Κομνηνῷ. Τῶν δέ γε Μανιχαίων πρὸς τοῖς ὀκτακοσίοις εἰς δισχιλίους ποσουμένων ἡγεμόνες ἦσαν ὁ Ξαντᾶς καὶ ὁ Κουλέων, τῆς αὐτῆς καὶ οὗτοι αἱρέσεως. Ἄνδρες ἅπαν τες οὗτοι μαχιμώτατοι καὶ αἵματος ἀπογεύεσθαι τῶν ἐχθρῶν καιροῦ καλοῦντος ἑτοιμότατοι καὶ πρός γε ἔτι καὶ ἰταμοὶ καὶ ἀναίσχυντοι. Τῶν δέ γε οἰκειοτέρων αὐτῷ (βεστιαρίτας ἡ συνήθεια καλεῖ) καὶ τῶν Φραγγικῶν ταγ μάτων ὁ Πανουκωμίτης καὶ Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ Οὐμπερτό πουλος ἐκ γένους τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν λαχών. 4.4.4 Οὕτως οὖν τὰ τάγματα καταστήσας πανστρατὶ κατὰ τοῦ Ῥομπέρτου ἐξώρμησε. Συναντήσας δέ τινι ἐκεῖθεν ἐρχομένῳ περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὸ ∆υρράχιον πυθόμενος σαφέστερον ἐμεμαθήκει, ὅτι ὁ Ῥομπέρτος κινήσας πάντα τὰ πρὸς τειχομαχίαν ἐπιτήδεια ὄργανα τοῖς τείχεσι προσεπέλασεν. Ὁ δὲ Παλαιολόγος Γεώργιος διὰ πάσης νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας πρὸς τὰς ἔξωθεν ἑλεπόλεις καὶ τὰ μηχανήματα ἀντικαθ ιστάμενος καὶ ἀπαγορεύσας ἤδη τὰς πύλας ἀναπετάσας καὶ ἐξελθὼν μετ' αὐτῶν καρτερὸν συνεστήσατο πόλεμον. Καὶ καιρίως ἐν διαφόροις τοῦ σώματος τόποις ἐπλήγη καὶ μᾶλλον περὶ τὸν κρόταφον βέλους διελθόντος. Ὃ βιαζό μενος ἐξελεῖν καὶ μὴ δυνηθεὶς μετακαλεσάμενός τινα τῶν ἐμπείρων περιεῖλε τὰ ἄκρα, τόν τε στύρακά