Chapter 68

There was a town called Zeta, which was ten miles distant from Scipio but situated in the general direction of his camp; whereas it was relatively distant and remote—fourteen miles in fact—from Caesar. To this town Scipio sent two legions to forage. When Caesar learned of this from a deserter he moved his camp from the plain to a safer position on the high ground; and leaving a covering force there, he himself set out at the fourth watch, marched on past the enemy’s camp, and took possession of the town. He then ascertained that Scipio’s legions were foraging farther afield: and he was just proceeding to march in their direction when he observed enemy forces hastening up to support those legions. This circumstance made him loath to attack. And so, taking prisoner C. Minucius Reginus, the commandant of that town, who was a Roman knight and a very intimate friend of Scipio, and P. Atrius, a Roman knight and a member of the corporation of Utica, and leading away twenty-two of the king’s camels, he proceeded to retire to camp, leaving his lieutenant, Oppius, with a garrison in the town.