had procured a supply
of some thousand Turks; and the arrows of the Scythian horse were
opposed to the lances of the Norman cavalry. On the report and distant
prospect of these formidable numbers, Robert assembled a council of his
principal officers. "You behold," said he, "your danger: it is urgent
and inevitable. The hills are covered with arms and standards; and the
emperor of the Greeks is accustomed to wars and triumphs. Obedience and
union are our only safety; and I am ready to yield the command to a more
worthy leader." The vote and acclamation even of his secret enemies,
assured him, in that perilous moment, of their esteem and confidence;
and the duke thus continued: "Let us trust in the rewards of victory,
and deprive cowardice of the means of escape. Let us burn our vessels
and our baggage, and give battle on this spot, as if it were the
place of our nativity and our burial." The resolution was unanimously
approved; and, without confining himself to his lines, Guiscard awaited
in battle-array the nearer approach of the enemy. His rear was covered
by a small river; his right wing extended to the sea; his left to the
hills: nor was he conscious, perhaps, that on the same ground Caesar and
Pompey had formerly disputed the empire of the world. [72]

[Footnote 69: Muratori (Annali d' Italia, tom. ix. p. 136, 137)
observes, that some authors (Petrus Diacon. Chron. Casinen. l. iii. c.
49) compose the Greek army of 170,000 men, but that the hundred may
be struck off, and that Malaterra reckons only 70,000; a slight
inattention. The passage to which he alludes is in the Chronicle of
Lupus Protospata, (Script. Ital. tom. v. p. 45.) Malaterra (l. iv.
c. 27) speaks in high, but indefinite terms of the emperor, cum
copiisinnumerabilbus: like the Apulian poet, (l. iv. p. 272:)
--More locustarum montes et pianna teguntur.]

[Footnote 70: See William of Malmsbury, de Gestis Anglorum, l. ii. p.
92. Alexius fidem Anglorum suspiciens praecipuis familiaritatibus suis
eos applicabat, amorem eorum filio transcribens. Odericus Vitalis (Hist.
Eccles. l. iv. p. 508, l. vii. p. 641) relates their emigration from
England, and their service in Greece.]

[Footnote 71: See the Apulian, (l. i. p. 256.) The character and the
story of these Manichaeans has been the subject of the livth chapter.]

[Footnote 72: See the simple and masterly narrative of Caesar himself,
(Comment. de Bell. Civil. iii. 41-75.) It is a pity that Quintus
Icilius