 He simply sent the family of Melus, including his son Argyrus, to Constantinople.While Melus fled to Guaimar III of Salerno, Dattus looked to the protection of the Abbey of Montecassino, where he was aided by the Latin monks, and to Pope Benedict VIII, who loaned him papal troops to garrison a tower on the Garigliano, in the territory of the Duchy of Gaeta, then ruled by the anti-Byzantine Emilia.In 1016, Dattus rejoined Melus and his Norman mercenaries in Apulia.