hopric of Coutances. Joining his
elder half-brother William Bras-de-Fer in Italy, Robert at once began to
make a remarkable display of soldierly and statesman-like qualities. An
adventurer pure and simple in an alien land, this sharp-witted Norman in
course of time obtained the nick-name of Guiscard, or the Wiseacre, and on
the death of his elder brother he was nominated Count of Apulia by
acclamation of the Norman followers, to the exclusion of his helpless
young nephews. Robert Guiscard's appearance and character have been
sketched for us with loving care by one of the most famous of the world's
historians, who was fully able to appreciate the mingled force and
cunning, the _suaviter in modo_ and the _fortiter in re_, of this leader
of a handful of Normans in a hostile and distant country. Let Gibbon's
stately prose therefore present to us a word-painting of the Great
Adventurer himself:--

"His lofty stature surpassed the tallest of his army; his limbs were cast
in the true proportion of strength and gracefulness; and to the decline of
life he maintained the patent vigour of health and the commanding dignity
of his form. His complexion was ruddy, his shoulders were broad, his hair
and beard were long and of a flaxen colour, his eyes sparkled with fire,
and his voice, like that of Achilles, could impress obedience and terror
amidst the tumult of battle. In the ruder ages of chivalry, such
qualifications are not below the notice of the poet or historian; they may
observe that Robert at once and with equal dexterity could wield in the
right hand his sword, his lance in the left; that in the battle of
Civitella he was thrice unhorsed, and that on the close of that memorable
day he was adjudged to have borne away the prize of valour from the
warriors of the two armies. His boundless ambition was founded on the
consciousness of superior worth: in the pursuit of greatness he was never
arrested by the scruples of justice, and seldom moved by the feelings of
humanity: though not insensible of fame, the choice of open or clandestine
means was determined only by his present advantage. The surname of
_Guiscard_ was applied to this master of political wisdom, which is too
often confounded with the practice of dissimulation and deceit; and Robert
is praised by the Apulian poet for excelling the cunning of Ulysses and
the eloquence of Cicero. Yet these arts were disguised by an appearance of
military frankness: in his highest fortun