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3He was still in this position when one Publius Sittius (if, indeed, we ought to say it was he, and not rather Providence) brought to him at one stroke salvation and victory. This man had been exiled from Italy, and taking with him some fellow-exiles and crossing over into Mauretania, 2he had collected a force and served as general under Bocchus; and although he had previously received no benefit from Caesar, and was not known to him at all, in fact, he undertook to assist him in the war and help him overcome his present difficulties. 3In pursuance of this plan he did not go to the aid of Caesar himself, for he heard that he was at a distance and thought that his own assistance would prove of small value to him, since he had as yet no large body of troops, but waited, instead, until Juba set out on his expedition, 4and then he invaded Numidia, harrying it and Gaetulia (a part of Juba’s dominion) so completely that the king gave up the matter in hand and turned back in the midst of his march with most of his army; for he also sent a part of it to Scipio at the same time. 5This fact made it very clear that if Juba had also come up, Caesar could never have withstood the two. Indeed, he did not so much as venture to join issue with Scipio alone at first, because he stood in great dread of the elephants, among other things, partly on account of their fighting abilities, but still more because they kept throwing his cavalry into confusion.
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