| Quotation |
Sic Centurbio relicto, in planicie Paternionis castrametati, tentoria figunt. Visaque planicie apta et spatiosa ad proeliandum, per octo dies illuc morati sunt, volentes ut a Sarracenis inibi sibi proelium dispositum offerretur. Sed cum a speculatoribus Betuminis Sarraceni, qui apud Regium ad comitem transfugerat et illis fidus comes et ductor comitabatur, didicissent bellum necdum in promptu haberi, ulterius progredientes, apud Sanctum Felicem, juxta cryptas subterraneas, hospitati sunt: quas oppugnantes, maxima ex parte coeperunt, pluribus ex inhabitantibus interemptis. Inde progressi ad molendina, ante Castrum - Johannis, in ripa fluminis, quod lingua eorum Guedetani dicitur - quod latine resolutum flumen paludis interpretatur - , castrametati sunt. |
| Translation |
So they left Centuripe and set up their tents elsewhere, pitching camp in the plain of Paternò, which was wide and suitable for a battle. They waited there for eight days, hoping that the encounter offered by the Saracens would take place there. But when they learned from the scouts of Betumen, who had fled to the count at Reggio and now accompanied them as their faithful lieutenant and guide,
that the battle was not going to take place immediately, they marched on further to S. Felice and camped near the underground caves. These they attacked, beginning with the largest, killing many of
the inhabitants. Then they went on to the mills on the bank of the river below Castrogiovanni which is called in their language Guedetani [Wadi-et-tin], which in Latin translation means 'marshy river', and
there they pitched camp. |
