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Chapter 5
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Eagle of the Ninth, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Freedom and Slavery
Friendship and Trust
Dignity and Shared Humanity
The Roman Conquest of Britain
The Military, Identity, and Honor
Summary
Analysis
Marcus successfully purchases the swordsman the next day, and Stephanos fetches the enslaved man that evening. As he waits for them to arrive, Marcus wonders why he cares so much about a gladiator, and what he might have in common with a “barbarian slave.” Finally, Stephanos delivers the swordsman to Marcus. The swordsman wants to know why Marcus saved him yesterday, as he didn’t want to be saved. He also wants to know why Marcus bought him specifically. Marcus suggests that he wanted someone “unusual,” not like Stephanos, who was born into slavery and is thus “nothing more” than an enslaved person. The swordsman introduces himself as Esca, formerly of the Brigantes tribe. Esca already knows who Marcus is and that he was injured—and he hoped Marcus would be his buyer. Otherwise, he would’ve escaped. He drops a knife hidden in his tunic and declares he’s “the Centurion’s hound.”
For now, Marcus sees Esca as wholly different from him because Esca is a tribesman and Marcus is Roman. This is perhaps influenced by Marcus’s failed friendship with Cradoc, the only other tribesman whom Marcus has formed a relationship with thus far. Once again, Marcus’s ideas on slavery, expressed here, are problematic: all people have dignity, and Stephanos isn’t lesser because he was born into slavery. But in Marcus’s understanding, there’s something very different about the mindset one develops when one has been born into freedom versus being born into slavery. The implication is that Esca will have more spark, perhaps, or will otherwise be more relatable to free Marcus than Stephanos is. Esca’s declaration that he’s Marcus’s “hound” suggests that he agrees with Marcus that slavery has merits, and it subtly (and problematically!) suggests that slavery isn’t so bad if a slaveowner is kind to the people they enslave.
Active
Themes
Esca adjusts so well to serving Marcus that Marcus suspects he was an armor-bearer to a brother or his father before he was enslaved. But Marcus doesn’t ask, sensing that would be intrusive. Over time, Marcus feels like Esca is his friend, but Esca’s behavior suggests Esca never forgets he’s enslaved. That winter, hungry wolves terrorize Calleva, killing livestock and even a baby. One day, when Esca returns from town with news that a hunt has been organized for tomorrow, Marcus tells him to borrow weapons and go. Esca is gone for more than a day and returns to Marcus’s sleeping cell with a wolf cub for Marcus. Esca shares that they killed a female wolf and discovered her litter. Other hunters killed the other pups, but Esca snatched this one—and killed the aggressive father wolf when it returned.
As respectful as Marcus is of Esca in some ways, enslaving him is still cruel and denies Esca his dignity. Marcus seems relatively unaware of this, given that he thinks of Esca as a real friend, which is impossible given the power differential (which Esca, as the one with less power, can’t forget). When Esca returns with the wolf cub and the story of how he got it, it aligns Esca, a tribesman, more with the natural world. This is in sharp contrast to Roman characters like Uncle Aquila, who spends all his time in his square Roman tower office.
Active
Themes
Hearing this, Marcus is both angry and admiring. He tells Esca he shouldn’t have done something so dangerous, but Esca immediately apologizes for risking his “Master’s property.” Marcus assures Esca he didn’t mean it that way and asks what happened. With prodding, Esca reveals that a young Tribune named Placidus, who was “smooth as a girl,” praised Esca’s bravery—and then suggested Esca was only brave “for a slave” when he saw Esca’s clipped ear. Placidus then acknowledged that Esca was a skilled hunter, but he scolded Esca for potentially costing Marcus money should he die. Marcus is angry. He grips Esca’s wrist and says that he doesn’t think Esca’s clipped ear makes him a “beast,” and that he barely thinks of Esca as an enslaved man. Frightened by the outburst, the wolf bites Marcus, and the young men laugh.
While many in Uncle Aquila’s household are concerned about the wolf cub, or ignore him, Sassticca scolds everyone else for trying to deny Marcus his happiness. Soon after, Esca tells Marcus about life before he was enslaved. From the bathhouse, Marcus hears a chariot race by outside. The driver is clearly having problems, and Esca reveals he was his father’s charioteer. He explains how he was his father’s armor-bearer until he became a man at 16. About a year later, his clan rebelled against the Roman Legions and lost. Esca was the only one of his family to survive, and he and other surviving men were enslaved. He then reminisces about his childhood—including, a decade ago, watching a Legion march north that never came back. The Legion and its Eagle marched into mist, like they stepped into another world. Marcus shares that his father led that Legion.
Active
Themes
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