 They were moderately successful at first, but they were defeated at Cannae (1018) and Dattus fled back to Montecassino and thence to the old tower.In 1020, while Melus was conferencing with pope and the German king in Bamberg, the new "catepan", Basil Boiannes, and his new ally, Pandulf IV of Capua, marched on the tower and took it.At Bari on 15 June, Dattus was tied up in a sack with a monkey, a rooster, and a snake and tossed into the sea (the so-called "", similar to the ancient Roma "Poena cullei").