The Eagle of the Ninth

Cub’s experience serves as a symbol of Esca’s own experience throughout the novel. Like Esca, the death of Cub’s family secondary to the exercising of Rome’s will leads to his capture and installation in a lifestyle that is foreign to him. Uncle Aquila and Tribune Placidus remind Marcus that it is dangerous for him to trust Esca, and the parallels between Esca’s status as an enslaved warrior and Cub’s eventual development into a wolf, though he is now a pup, are clear. Neither Esca nor Cub may present an immediate danger to Marcus, but he cannot deny their nature and their instincts, and both may supersede any attachments they may develop to Marcus. Cub’s opportunity to go free and choose whether he wants to return to Marcus at Uncle Aquila’s home immediately precedes the visit by Claudius Hieronimianus. Cub has returned to Marcus of his own free will, and Esca’s subsequent decision to accompany Marcus on his quest to secure the eagle reflects Cub’s decision to come home. Both have been granted freedom to determine what they will do with their lives, and both have decided to remain loyal to Marcus. Cub’s misery during Marcus’s departure and his refusal to eat also coincide with Esca’s decision to remain with Marcus after they have returned from the North, suggesting a kind of codependence that has developed as they have matured together.

Hadrian’s Wall represents both a physical and a cultural delineation between two territories. Constructed to keep the Northern tribes at bay, Hadrian’s Wall is in many ways a sign of defeat as much as it is a symbol of prowess. In the lands to the south, pockets of resistance maintain opposition to Rome, but a distinctly Roman way of life has gained a significant foothold over the Briton land. It has become a place where Roman soldiers like Uncle Aquila can retire while enjoying the lifestyle and trappings of an existence that might be found closer to Rome. By the time of the events depicted in The Eagle of the Ninth, however, Rome has abandoned several unsuccessful attempts to secure its dominance over territory north of the Wall and accepted Hadrian’s Wall as the defining border of its empire. When Marcus and Esca proceed past this boundary, they are passing into a land entirely foreign to Marcus, who, as a Roman citizen, has never in his life traveled anywhere that was not already Roman.

Characteristic of the climate of the British Isles, mists create a shroud of mystery throughout the novel, cloaking individuals and lands, and emphasizing the wildness of the wilderness, particularly past the Wall. When they are first integrated into the novel, the mists allow for the covert attack of Isca Dumnoniorum, offering a veil that conceals the approach of waves of Britons from Marcus and the other soldiers at the fort. More crucially, the mists offer an even more significant hindrance in the obstruction of the signal fire lit at Isca Dumnoniorum, preventing the summoning of reinforcements and leaving Isca Dumnoniorum stranded and vulnerable. It is through the mists that those soldiers remaining loyal to the Ninth Legion, including Marcus’s father, are pared down by the Britons. Under the veil of the mists, they approach and attack the small contingent, whittling it down until they can dispatch them and capture the eagle. Throughout Marcus and Esca’s travels in the North, the mist symbolizes the wilderness of this region unsubdued by Roman efforts. Where it was once the disadvantage that set in motion the events culminating in the end of Marcus’s military career, and where it once facilitated the final destruction of the Ninth Legion, the mist becomes an asset to Marcus and Esca when they are attempting to return south with the eagle. Using the mists for their own concealment is the only way that they can gain ground with multiple tribes on their trail, and Esca’s understanding of the climate allows them to take advantage of this regional phenomenon.