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being split, then again to be joined together and to march with shields locked. 4.6.3 So then, having arranged the whole army in this way, he himself advanced in front of the Celtic armies, racing along the shore; while the barbarians who had been sent out, having passed through the salt-marshes, since those inside Dyrrachium also opened the gates as the emperor had ordered them to do this, at the same time attacked the Celtic tents. And as the leaders came against each other, Robert, sending out detachments, ordered them to make cavalry charges, to see if they might be able to draw away some of the Roman army from there. But the emperor was not idle in this matter; but rather he sent many peltasts who would stand against them. 4.6.4 So when both sides had engaged in moderate skirmishing against each other, and since Robert followed them slowly and the space in between was already being narrowed, foot soldiers and horsemen running out from the phalanx of Amicetas attacked around the edge of Nampites' battle-line. But when these stood against them more bravely, they turned back, since they were not all chosen men, and throwing themselves into the sea up to the neck, they approached the ships of the Roman and Venetian fleet and begged for salvation from there, but were not received by them. 4.6.5 But Gaita, as a certain story says, the wife of Robert campaigning with him, another Pallas, if not an Athene, seeing the fugitives, looked at them fiercely, and letting out a very loud cry against them, seemed to speak that Homeric line in her own dialect, "How long will you flee? Stand, be men." But when she saw them still fleeing, grasping a long spear, she let the reins go completely and charged against the fugitives. Seeing this and coming to their senses, they recalled themselves to battle again. 4.6.6 And since the ax-bearers and their leader Nampites himself, through inexperience and ardor, having marched too quickly, stood at a considerable distance from the Roman battle-line, eager to engage with the Celts with equal spirit (for in battles they are no less passionate than them and in this respect not inferior to the Celts), Robert, seeing them already tired and out of breath, and having confirmed this both from their rapid movement and the distance and the weight of their weapons, ordered some of the infantry to charge against them. And being already exhausted, they appeared weaker than the Celts. And so at that time the entire barbarian contingent fell, and as many of them as were saved, having fled to the sanctuary of the Archangel Michael, some, as many as the sanctuary had room for inside, went in, while others, having climbed on top of the sanctuary, stood there, intending to secure their safety from there, as they thought. But the Latins, setting fire to it, burned them all along with the sanctuary. 4.6.7 But the rest of the Roman phalanx fought stubbornly against them. But Robert, like some winged horseman, with the remaining forces charges against the Roman phalanx and pushes it and breaks it into many parts. From this, some of the opponents, fighting in the battle itself, fall, while others secured their safety by flight. But the emperor Alexios remained like some unshaken tower, even though he had lost many of the men with him, men distinguished by both birth and military experience. For at that time fell Constantios, the son of the former emperor Constantine Doukas, not born while his father was still a private citizen, but both born and raised in the purple, and at that time deemed worthy of the royal diadem by his father; and Nikephoros by name, called Synadenos by surname, a noble and very handsome man, and striving to surpass all in fighting on that day, with whom the aforementioned Constantios was discussing a marriage-alliance concerning his own sister

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σχιζομένους, εἶτ' αὖθις συνεχίζεσθαι καὶ συνησπικότας πορεύεσθαι. 4.6.3 Οὕτω γοῦν τὸ ἅπαν διατυπώσας στράτευμα αὐτὸς μὲν κατὰ μέτωπον ἵετο τῶν Κελτικῶν στρατευμάτων τὴν ᾐόνα παραθέων· οἱ δὲ ἀπο σταλέντες βάρβαροι τὰς ἁλυκὰς διεληλυθότες, ἐπεὶ καὶ οἱ ἐντὸς τοῦ ∆υρραχίου τὰς πύλας ἀνεπέτασαν τοῦτο αὐτοῖς τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος ἐπισκήψαντος, ἐν ταὐτῷ ταῖς Κελτικαῖς σκηναῖς προσέβαλον. Κατ' ἀλλήλων δὲ τῶν δημαγωγῶν ἐρχομένων ἀποσπάδας ἀποστέλλων ὁ Ῥομπέρτος ἱππασίας ἐκέλευε ποιεῖσθαι, εἴ που ἐκεῖθεν ὑποσῦραί τινας δυνηθεῖεν τοῦ Ῥωμαϊκοῦ στρατεύματος. Ἀλλ' οὐδ' ὁ βασιλεὺς πρὸς τοῦτο ἀνεπεπτώκει· ἔπεμπε δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ συχνοὺς τοὺς ἀντικαταστησομένους αὐτοῖς πελταστάς. 4.6.4 Ἀκροβο λισμοῖς οὖν μετρίοις ἀμφοτέρων κατ' ἀλλήλων χρησαμένων, ἐπεὶ καὶ ὁ Ῥομπέρτος ἠρέμα τούτοις εἵπετο καὶ τὸ μεταί χμιον ἤδη ἀπεστενοῦτο διάστημα, τῆς φάλαγγος τοῦ Ἀμι κέτου προεκδραμόντες πεζοὶ καὶ ἱππεῖς περὶ τὸ ἄκρον τῆς παρατάξεως τῆς τοῦ Ναμπίτου προσέβαλον. Γενναιότερον δ' αὐτῶν ἀντικαταστάντων παλίνορσοι γεγόνασιν, ἐπεὶ οὐ πάντες λογάδες ἦσαν, καὶ τῇ θαλάσσῃ ἑαυτοὺς ἐπιρρί ψαντες ἄχρι τοῦ τραχήλου ταῖς νηυσὶ τοῦ Ῥωμαϊκοῦ καὶ Βενετικικοῦ στόλου πελάζοντες ἐκεῖθεν ᾐτοῦντο τὴν σωτηρίαν καὶ παρ' ἐκείνων οὐ προσεδέχοντο. 4.6.5 Ἡ δέ γε Γαΐτα, ὡς λόγος τίς φησιν, ἡ τοῦ Ῥομπέρτου σύνευνος αὐτῷ συστρατευομένη, Παλλὰς ἄλλη κἂν μὴ Ἀθήνη, θεασα μένη τοὺς φεύγοντας δριμὺ τούτοις ἐνατενίσασα κατ' αὐτῶν μεγίστην ἀφεῖσα φωνὴν μόνον οὐ τὸ Ὁμηρικὸν ἐκεῖνο ἔπος τῇ ἰδίᾳ διαλέκτῳ λέγειν ἐῴκει «μέχρι πόσου φεύ ξεσθε; στῆτε, ἀνέρες ἔστε». Ὡς δὲ ἔτι φεύγοντας τού τους ἑώρα, δόρυ μακρὸν ἐναγκαλισαμένη ὅλους ῥυτῆρας ἐνδοῦσα κατὰ τῶν φευγόντων ἵεται. Τοῦτο θεασάμενοι καὶ ἑαυτῶν γεγονότες αὖθις πρὸς μάχην ἑαυτοὺς ἀνεκαλέσαντο. 4.6.6 Ἐπειδὴ δὲ οἱ πελεκυφόροι καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ τούτων ἀρχηγὸς ὁ Ναμπίτης δι' ἀπειρίαν καὶ θερμότητα ὀξύτερον βεβα δικότες ἱκανὸν τῆς Ῥωμαϊκῆς παρατάξεως ἀπέστησαν σπεύδοντες ξυμβαλεῖν ἐν ἴσῳ θυμῷ τοῖς Κελτοῖς (καὶ γὰρ οὐχ ἧττον ἐκείνων περὶ τὰς μάχας καὶ οὗτοι ἐκθυμότεροί εἰσι καὶ τῶν Κελτῶν ἐν τούτῳ τῷ μέρει μὴ ἀποδέοντες), κεκοπιακότας τούτους ἤδη καὶ ἀσθμαίνοντας ὁ Ῥομπέρτος θεασάμενος καὶ τοῦτο ἀπό τε τῆς ὀξείας κινήσεως τοῦ τε διαστήματος βεβαιωθεὶς καὶ τοῦ ἄχθους τῶν ὅπλων τινὰς τῶν πεζῶν ἐπέσκηψε κατ' αὐτῶν εἰσπηδῆσαι. Οἱ δὲ προκεκμηκότες ἤδη μαλακώτεροι τῶν Κελτῶν ἐφαίνοντο. Πίπτει γοῦν τηνικαῦτα τὸ βάρβαρον ἅπαν, καὶ ὁπόσοι τούτων ἐσώθησαν, περὶ τὸ τέμενος τοῦ ἀρχιστρατήγου Μιχαὴλ προσπεφευγότες οἱ μὲν καὶ ὁπόσοις ἐξεχώρει τὸ τέμενος ἐντός, εἰσῄεσαν, οἱ δὲ ἄνωθεν τοῦ τεμένους ἀνελθόντες εἱστήκεσαν τὴν σωτηρίαν, ὡς ᾤοντο, ἐκεῖθεν πραγματευσόμενοι. Οἱ δὲ Λατῖνοι πῦρ κατ' αὐτῶν ἀφέντες σὺν τῷ τεμένει πάντας κατέκαυσαν. 4.6.7 Τὸ δέ γε λοιπὸν τῆς Ῥωμαϊκῆς φάλαγγος καρτερῶς πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀπεμά χοντο. Ὁ δὲ Ῥομπέρτος καθάπερ τις πτερωτὸς ἱππότης σὺν ταῖς λοιπαῖς δυνάμεσι κατὰ τῆς Ῥωμαϊκῆς φάλαγγος ἐλᾷ καὶ ὠθεῖται ταύτην καὶ εἰς μέρη πολλὰ διασπᾷ. Ἐν τεῦθεν οἱ μὲν τῶν ἀντικειμένων ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ πολέμῳ μαχό μενοι πίπτουσιν, οἱ δὲ φυγῇ τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἐπραγματεύσαντο σωτηρίαν. Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς Ἀλέξιος καθάπερ τις πύργος ἀκλόνητος ἔμενε, κἂν πολλοὺς τῶν μετ' αὐτοῦ ἀποβεβλήκει ἀνδρῶν καὶ γένει καὶ πείρᾳ στρατιωτικῇ διαφερόντων. Πέπτωκε γὰρ τηνικαῦτα ὁ Κωνστάντιος υἱὸς μὲν τοῦ προβεβασιλευκότος Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ ∆ούκα, οὐκ ἰδιω τεύοντος αὐτοῦ ἔτι ἀποτεχθείς, ἀλλ' ἐν πορφύρᾳ καὶ γεννηθεὶς καὶ τραφεὶς καὶ ταινίας τῷ τότε καιρῷ βασιλικῆς παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀξιωθείς· καὶ ὁ Νικηφόρος μὲν τὴν κλῆσιν, Συναδηνὸς δὲ τὴν ἐπίκλησιν καλούμενος, ἀνὴρ γενναῖος καὶ ὡραιότατος καὶ σφαδάζων πάντων ὑπερ τερῆσαι κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην μαχόμενος, μεθ' οὗ ὁ ἤδη ῥηθεὶς Κωνστάντιος περὶ κήδους ἐπὶ τῇ ἰδίᾳ ἀδελφῇ