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stretching towards the sea and ending in a certain promontory, which is like a peninsula, on which the already mentioned sanctuary was built. The gentle slope of the neck, joining the plain and inclining towards Dyrrachium, has the sea on its left, and on its right a high and overhanging mountain. Having therefore gathered all his heavy-armed troops there and pitched his camp, he then summoned George Palaiologos. But he, having long experience of such things, considering this not to be advantageous, refused to come out, declaring this very thing to the emperor. When the emperor again summoned him more insistently, he said, “It seems utterly ruinous to me to come out while the castle is being besieged, and unless I see the ring from your majesty's hand, I will not come out.” When he saw that this had been sent, he then went to the emperor with warships. 4.5.3 The emperor, upon seeing him, inquired about Robert's situation; and when he had explained everything to him, he asked whether he should risk battle with him. But for the time being he advised against this. But also some of those who had long experience in warfare earnestly restrained him, advising him to hold out and to hasten to confine Robert through skirmishes, not allowing those under him to go out from their own camp for the sake of foraging or plunder, and to urge Bodin and the Dalmatians and the other rulers of the neighboring lands to do this, assuring him that in this way Robert would easily be defeated. But the majority of the younger men of the army urged for war, and most of all Konstantios the Porphyrogennetos and Nikephoros Synadenos and the leader of the Varangians, Nampites, and the sons of the former emperor Romanos Diogenes, both Leo and Nikephoros. 4.5.4 At the same time, those who had been sent to Robert returned and reported his words to the emperor, that “I,” he says, “have not come out against your majesty at all, but rather to avenge the injustice done to my kinsman-by-marriage. But if you wish for peace with me, I too welcome this, only if you yourself are willing to fulfill the things declared to you by my ambassadors.” But since he was demanding things that were altogether impossible and harmful to the Roman empire, promising at the same time, if he should obtain the things he sought, to consider Longobardia itself as from the emperor and to help whenever there was need. But this was a pretext, so that he might seem, through what he was asking, to want peace himself, but by saying impossible things and not obtaining them, he would engage in battle, and then lay the blame for the battle on the emperor of the Romans. 4.5.5 Having therefore asked for impossible things and not received them, he called together all the counts and said to them: “You know the injustice done by the emperor Nikephoros Botaneiates to my kinsman-by-marriage and the dishonor which my daughter Helen suffered, being cast out from the empire with him. Unable to bear this, we came out from our country to take vengeance for these things against Botaneiates. But since he has been removed from power, we now have a new emperor, a young man and a brave soldier who has experience of military science beyond his years, and one must not undertake the war against him lightly. For where there is a divided command, there is also confusion, which the differing opinions of the many introduce. Henceforth, the rest of us must obey one man, and he must seek the counsel of all and not use his own reasoning rashly and at random, while the rest must state their opinions to him with frankness, while at the same time following the counsel of the one chosen. And behold, I, one of all, am ready to submit to whomever you all may choose.” 4.5.6 Therefore all, praising this counsel and saying that he spoke well

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διήκων πρὸς θάλασσαν ἀποτελευτῶν εἰς ἀκρω τήριόν τι, ὅπερ οἷον χερσόνησός ἐστιν, ἐν ᾧ καὶ τὸ ἤδη ῥηθὲν ᾠκοδόμηται τέμενος. Ἠρέμα δὲ τὸ τοῦ αὐχένος πρανὲς συμβάλλον τῇ πεδιάδι πρὸς τὸ ∆υρράχιον ἀπονε νευκὸς ἐξ εὐωνύμου μὲν τὴν θάλασσαν, δεξιόθεν δὲ ὄρος ὑψηλὸν καὶ ὑπερκείμενον ἔχει. Ἐκεῖσε γοῦν τὸ ὁπλιτικὸν ἅπαν συναγαγὼν καὶ τὸν χάρακα πηξάμενος τηνικαῦτα καὶ τὸν Παλαιολόγον μετεκαλεῖτο Γεώργιον. Ὁ δὲ πεῖραν σχὼν τῶν τοιούτων ἐκ μακροῦ μὴ συμφέρον τοῦτο λογι ζόμενος ἀνένευε τὴν ἐξέλευσιν αὐτὸ τοῦτο πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα δηλώσας. Ὡς δ' αὖθις ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπιμελέστερον τοῦτον μετεκαλεῖτο, φησὶν «ἐμοὶ λίαν ὀλέθριον δοκεῖ πολιορκουμένου τοῦ κάστρου ἐξελθεῖν, καὶ εἰ μὴ τὸν δακτύλιον τῆς χειρὸς τῆς σῆς βασιλείας θεάσομαι, οὐκ ἐξελεύσομαι». Ἀποσταλέντα δὲ τοῦτον θεασάμενος τηνι καῦτα φοιτᾷ πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα μετὰ πολεμικῶν νηῶν. 4.5.3 Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τοῦτον ἰδὼν τὰ κατὰ τὸν Ῥομπέρτον αὐτοῦ ἐπυνθάνετο· τούτου δὲ πάντα αὐτῷ διασαφήσαντος ἠρώτα, εἰ χρὴ τὸν μετ' αὐτοῦ ἀποθαρρῆσαι πόλεμον. Ὁ δὲ πρὸς τοῦτον ἀνένευε τέως. Ἀλλὰ καί τινες τῶν περὶ τὰ πολεμικὰ πεῖραν ἐκ μακροῦ χρόνου ἐσχηκότων ἐπιμελῶς τοῦτον ἐκώλυον συμβουλευόμενοι καρτερῆσαι καὶ δι' ἀκρο βολισμῶν σπεῦσαι στενοχωρῆσαι τὸν Ῥομπέρτον μὴ συγχω ρουμένων τῶν ὑπ' αὐτὸν χορταγωγίας χάριν ἢ προνομῆς τῆς ἰδίας παρεμβολῆς ἐξιέναι, τοῦτο δὲ καὶ τῷ Βοδίνῳ καὶ τοῖς ∆αλμάταις καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς ἀρχηγοῖς τῶν παρα κειμένων χωρῶν παρακελεύσασθαι ποιεῖν, διαβεβαιούμενοι, ὡς τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ῥᾳδίως ὁ Ῥομπέρτος ἡττηθήσεται. Οἱ δὲ πλείονες τῶν νεωτέρων τοῦ στρατοῦ τὸν πόλεμον προὐτρέποντο καὶ πάντων μᾶλλον Κωνστάντιος ὁ πορφυ ρογέννητος καὶ Νικηφόρος ὁ Συναδηνὸς καὶ ὁ τῶν Βαράγγων ἡγεμὼν Ναμπίτης καὶ αὐτοὶ οἱ τοῦ προβεβα σιλευκότος Ῥωμανοῦ τοῦ ∆ιογένους υἱεῖς, ὅ τε Λέων καὶ ὁ Νικηφόρος. 4.5.4 Ἅμα δὲ καὶ οἱ πρὸς τὸν Ῥομπέρτον ἀποσταλέντες ἐπανεληλυθότες τὰ ἐκείνου πρὸς τὸν βασι λέα ἀπεστομάτιζον ὡς «ἐγὼ μέν» φησι «κατὰ τῆς σῆς βασιλείας οὐδαμῶς ἐξελήλυθα, ἀλλ' ἐκδικήσων μᾶλλον τὴν γενομένην εἰς τὸν ἐμὸν συμπένθερον ἀδικίαν. Εἰ δὲ σὺ τὴν μετ' ἐμοῦ θέλεις εἰρήνην, ἀσπάζομαι τοῦτο κἀγώ, μόνον εἰ καὶ αὐτὸς τὰ μετὰ τῶν ἐμῶν δηλωθέντα σοι πρέσβεων προθυμηθῇς ἀποπληρῶσαι.» Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀδύνατα παντάπασιν ἐπεζήτει καὶ ἐπιβλαβῆ τῇ Ῥωμαίων ἀρχῇ ὑπισχνούμενος ἅμα, εἰ τεύξεται τῶν παρ' αὐτοῦ ζητου μένων, καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν Λογγιβαρδίαν ὡς ἀπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως λογίσασθαι καὶ βοηθεῖν, ὁπηνίκα χρεία ἐστί. Τὰ δὲ σκῆψις ἦν, ἵνα δόξῃ, δι' ὧν μὲν αἰτεῖται, αὐτὸς τὴν εἰρήνην θέλειν, ἀδύνατα δὲ λέγων καὶ μὴ τυγχάνων τῆς μάχης ἀνθέξεται, εἶτα τὴν τῆς μάχης αἰτίαν τῷ βασιλεῖ Ῥωμαίων προστρίψειεν. 4.5.5 Ἀτέλεστα γοῦν αἰτησάμενος καὶ μὴ τυχὼν πάντας τοὺς κόμητας συγκαλεσάμενός φησι πρὸς αὐτούς «οἴδατε τὴν παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως Νικηφόρου τοῦ Βοτανειάτου γεγονυῖαν ἀδικίαν εἰς τὸν ἐμὸν συμπέν θερον καὶ τὴν ἀτιμίαν, ἣν ἡ ἐμὴ θυγάτηρ Ἑλένη ἐπεπόνθει τῆς βασιλείας σὺν αὐτῷ ἐξεωθεῖσα. Τοῦτο δὲ μὴ φέροντες εἰς ἐκδίκησιν τούτων κατὰ τοῦ Βοτανειάτου τῆς χώρας ἡμῶν ἐξεληλύθειμεν. Ἐκείνου δὲ τῆς ἀρχῆς παραλυθέντος νῦν πρὸς βασιλέα ἔχομεν νέον καὶ στρατιώτην γενναῖον ὑπὲρ τὸν χρόνον αὐτοῦ πεῖραν τῆς στρατιωτικῆς ἐπιστή μης ἐσχηκότα, καὶ οὐ χρὴ ὡς ἔτυχε τὸν μετ' αὐτοῦ ἀνα δέξασθαι πόλεμον. Ὅπου γὰρ πολυαρχία, ἐκεῖ καὶ σύγ χυσις τῆς διαφόρου γνώμης τῶν πολλῶν ταύτην εἰσαγούσης. Λοιπὸν χρὴ ἑνός τινος ἡμῶν τοὺς λοιποὺς ἐπακούειν κἀκεῖνον μὲν τὴν ἐξ ἁπάντων βουλὴν ἐπιζητεῖν καὶ μὴ τοῖς οἰκείοις λογισμοῖς ἀπεριμερίμνως χρᾶσθαι καὶ ὡς ἔτυχε, τοὺς δέ γε λοιποὺς τὸ δοκοῦν αὐτοῖς μετ' εὐθύτητος λέγειν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἑπομένους ἅμα τῇ τοῦ προκριθέντος βουλῇ. Καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ εἶς ἐξ ἁπάντων ἕτοιμος ὢν ὑπείκειν, ᾧ ἂν πάντες προκρίνητε». 4.5.6 Πάντες οὖν τὴν βουλὴν ταύτην ἐπαινέσαντες καὶ καλῶς λέγειν