| Quotation |
Sed in prato Marco aliquantisper commoratus, exercitum, maris transmeatione et arto scopulosorum montium transitu tardantem, dum veniat, sustinet, videns super juga montium Calabriae greges armentorum et pecorum, sed et caprarum, in usus Saracenorum, quorum maxima pars exercitui intererat, occupari, ut merito, a collatione similis argumenti, gregum Laban et Jacob, si legisses, vel certe, aliquo referente, didicisses, recordari potuisses. |
| Translation |
He did however halt for some time in the plain of San Marco to give his army a breather after the sea crossing and the journey through a rocky and mountainous area, realising that the flocks of sheep and herds of cattle and goats on the high mountains of Calabria could be used to sustain the Saracens who formed the major part of his army; as one can indeed remember if one reads, or certainly one can learn from anybody, a similar sort of division was made of the flocks of Laban by Jacob. Who could have counted the thousands of armed men when the army was mustered, while their tents, clad in pitch, could have sheltered almost any number |
