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naming Robert, at that time they all yielded the primacy to him, having come to one mind on this. But he, feigning reluctance, for the time being put off the undertaking; but they were the more insistent, asking for this very thing. Therefore, giving in, as it seemed, to their entreaties, even though he had been longing for this for a long time, he skillfully wove arguments from arguments and linked reasons to reasons, so that to those who did not grasp his mind, he seemed to come unwillingly to that which he desired. 4.5.7 Then he says to them, “Listen to my counsel, counts and the rest of the army. Since we have left our own fatherlands and have come hither, and the battle before us is against a most manly emperor, who has indeed just now taken up the rudders of the empire, but has won many wars under the emperors before him and brought to them the greatest rebels as captives of his spear, it is necessary to engage in the battle with our whole soul. And if God decrees the victory for us, we shall no longer be in need of money. Therefore, it is necessary to burn all the baggage, and having bored holes in the transport ships, to release them into the sea, and so to undertake the battle with him as if born at that moment and about to die.” To this they all consented.

4.6.1 But such were the thoughts and plans of Robert; but those of the emperor, in turn, were more varied and sharper. Nevertheless, both leaders held their armies together, deliberating about strategy and leadership, how they might lead and campaign with skill. And the emperor, for his part, planning to fall suddenly upon Robert's camp from either side during the night, ordered the entire foreign army to attack from the rear, having them pass through the salt marshes, and he did not shrink from having them undertake a longer journey to avoid suspicion. He himself wished to attack Robert from the front, whenever he should learn that those sent had arrived. Who, having left his tents empty and crossed over the bridge by night (it was the eighteenth of the passing month of October of the fifth indiction), occupied with his entire army the precinct by the sea, long ago built in the name of the martyr Theodore. And throughout the whole night, propitiating the divinity, they partook of the immaculate and divine mysteries. Then, having drawn up his own phalanxes, he held the middle position of the formation, while the wing towards the sea he entrusted to Amicetas (this was a count of the distinguished sort, noble in both hand and mind), and the other to his son Bohemond, surnamed Saniscus. 4.6.2 The emperor, perceiving these things, being skilled at finding the expedient in a moment's turn, adapting himself to what had occurred, drew up his battle lines somewhere there on the slope by the sea. And dividing the troops, he did not check the advance of the barbarians going towards Robert's tents, but keeping back those who carried the single-edged swords on their shoulders, with their leader Nampites, he ordered them, having dismounted from their horses, to advance in formation in front at a short distance; this whole contingent were shield-bearers. And dividing the rest of the army into phalanxes, he himself held the very center of the battle line, and on the right and on the left he appointed as phalanx-commanders the Caesar Nikephoros Melissenos and the so-called Pacurianus, the great domestic. The very center between himself and the barbarians advancing on foot had sufficient soldiers skilled in archery, whom he wished to send forth against Robert, having ordered Nampites, whenever they should wish to ride out against the Celts and to return again, to give them room for their charge on either side.

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τὸν Ῥομπέρτον φάμενοι τηνικαῦτα αὐτῷ τῶν πρωτείων παρα κεχωρήκασιν ἅπαντες εἰς τοῦτο ὁμογνωμονήσαντες. Ὁ δὲ ἀκκιζόμενος οἶον ἀνεβάλλετο τέως τὴν ἐγχείρησιν· οἱ δὲ μᾶλλον ἐπέκειντο τοῦτο αὐτὸ αἰτοῦντες. Ὑπείξας οὖν τῷ φαινομένῳ ταῖς αὐτῶν παρακλήσεσι, κἂν τοῦτο ὠδίνων ἐκ μακροῦ, λόγους ἐκ λόγων περιέπλεκε καὶ αἰτίας αἰτίαις συνείρων εὐφυῶς, εἰς ὅπερ ἱμείρετο, ἄκων ἐδόκει τοῖς μὴ εἰς νοῦν βάπτουσιν ἔρχεσθαι. 4.5.7 Λοιπόν φησι πρὸς αὐτούς «ἀκούσατε τῆς ἐμῆς βουλῆς, κόμητες καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν τοῦ στρατοῦ. Ἐπεὶ τὰς σφῶν πατρίδας καταλε λοιπότες ἐνταυθοῖ παρεγενόμεθα, καὶ ἡ προκειμένη μάχη πρὸς ἀνδρικώτερον βασιλέα ἐστὶ καὶ ἄρτι μὲν τοὺς τῆς βασιλείας οἴακας ἀναδεξάμενον, πολλοὺς δὲ πολέμους ἐπὶ τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ βεβασιλευκότων νενικηκότα καὶ μεγίστους ἀποστάτας δορυαλώτους αὐτοῖς προσενηνοχότα, ὁλοψύχως χρὴ τῆς μάχης ἀνθέξεσθαι. Καὶ εἰ τὴν νικῶσαν ἡμῖν ἐπιψηφιεῖται Θεός, οὐκέτι χρημάτων ἐν χρείᾳ ἐσόμεθα. Χρὴ τοιγαροῦν τὰς μὲν σκευὰς ἁπάσας ἐμπρῆσαι, τὰς δὲ ὁλκάδας διατρήσαντας κατὰ τοῦ πελάγους ἀφεῖναι καὶ οὕτω τὴν μετ' αὐτοῦ ἀναδέξασθαι μάχην ὡς τηνικαῦτα γεννηθέντας καὶ τεθνηξομένους». Ἐπὶ τούτοις κατένευ σαν ἅπαντες.

4.6.1 Ἀλλὰ τοιαῦτα μὲν τὰ τοῦ Ῥομπέρτου διανοήματά τε καὶ βουλεύματα· ἄλλα δ' αὖ τὰ τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος ποι κιλώτερά τε καὶ ὀξύτερα. Συνεῖχον δ' ὅμως οἱ δημαγωγοὶ ἄμφω τὰ στρατεύματα στρατηγίας καὶ δημαγωγίας πέρι βουλευόμενοι, ὅπως μετ' ἐπιστήμης δημαγωγήσαιεν καὶ στρατεύσοιντο. Καὶ ὁ μὲν αὐτοκράτωρ αἴφνης νυκτὸς ἐξ ἑκατέρου μέρους ἐπεισπεσεῖν τῇ τοῦ Ῥομπέρτου παρεμ βολῇ σκεπτόμενος τὸ μὲν ἐθνικὸν ἅπαν στράτευμα ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄπισθεν μέρους ἐπέτρεψε προσβαλεῖν διὰ τῶν ἁλυκῶν διελθόντας καὶ πλείονα τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν ἀναδέξασθαι αὐτοὺς διὰ τὸ ἀνύποπτον οὐκ ἀπηνῄνατο. Αὐτὸς δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν, ὁπηνίκα γνοίη ἐφθακότας τοὺς ἀποσταλέντας, ἠβούλετο προσβαλεῖν τῷ Ῥομπέρτῳ. Ὃς κενὰς τὰς σκηνὰς καταλιπὼν καὶ νυκτὸς διὰ τῆς γεφύρας διεληλυθώς (ὀγδόη δ' ἦν πρὸς τῇ δεκάτῃ τοῦ παριππεύοντος μηνὸς Ὀκτω βρίου ἐπινεμήσεως πέμπτης) τὸ παρὰ τὴν θάλατταν ἐπ' ὀνόματι τοῦ μάρτυρος Θεοδώρου πάλαι ἀνοικοδομηθὲν τέμενος κατέλαβε μετὰ παντὸς τοῦ στρατεύματος. Καὶ δι' ὅλης νυκτὸς τὸ θεῖον ἐξευμενιζόμενοι τῶν ἀχράντων καὶ θείων μυστηρίων μετελάμβανον. Εἶτα τὰς ἰδίας κατα στήσας φάλαγγας τὴν μέσην εἴχετο τοῦ συντάγματος χώραν, τὸ δέ γε πρὸς θάλατταν κέρας τῷ Ἀμικέτῃ ἐπέ τρεψε (κόμης δὲ οὗτος τῶν ἐπιφανῶν, γενναῖος καὶ χεῖρα καὶ γνώμην), θάτερον δὲ τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ Βαϊμούντῳ, τὴν ἐπίκλησιν Σανίσκῳ. 4.6.2 Τούτων ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ αἰσθόμενος, δεινὸς ὢν τὸ συνοῖσον ἐν ὀξείᾳ εὑρηκέναι ῥοπῇ, μεθαρ μοσάμενος ἑαυτὸν πρὸς τὸ ξυμπεσὸν αὐτοῦ που κατὰ τὸ πρανὲς παρὰ τὴν θάλασσαν τὰς παρατάξεις κατέστησε. Καὶ διελὼν τὰ στρατεύματα τοὺς μὲν ἐπὶ τὰς σκηνὰς τοῦ Ῥομπέρτου ἀπερχομένους βαρβάρους τῆς ὁρμῆς οὐκ ἀνέ κοψε, τοὺς δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων τὰ ἑτερόκοπα φέροντας ξίφη παρακατασχὼν μετὰ τοῦ σφῶν ἀρχηγοῦ τοῦ Ναμπίτου ἀποβάντας τῶν ἵππων ἔμπροσθεν ἐκ μικροῦ διαστήματος προπορεύεσθαι στοιχηδὸν ἐπέτρεψε· τοῦτο δὲ γένος ἀσπι δηφόρον ξύμπαντες. Τοῦ δὲ στρατεύματος τὸ λοιπὸν εἰς φάλαγγας διελὼν αὐτὸς μὲν τὸ μεσαίτατον εἶχε τῆς παρα τάξεως, δεξιόθεν δὲ καὶ ἐξ εὐωνύμου φαλαγγάρχας τὸν καίσαρα Νικηφόρον τὸν Μελισσηνὸν ἐπέστησε καὶ τὸν καλούμενον Πακουριανὸν καὶ μέγαν δομέστικον. Τὸ δὲ μεσαίτατον αὐτοῦ τε καὶ τῶν πεζῇ βαδιζόντων βαρβάρων ἱκανοὺς εἶχε στρατιώτας τῆς τοξείας εἰδήμονας, οὓς κατὰ τοῦ· Ῥομπέρτου προεκπέμπειν ἠβούλετο, ἐπιτρέψας τῷ Ναμπίτῃ, ὁπηνίκα βούλοιντο πρὸς τοὺς Κελτοὺς ἐξιππά σασθαι καὶ αὖθις ὑποστρέφειν, χώραν αὐτοῖς ἐξ ἐφόδου διδόναι ἐφ' ἑκάτερα