The Eagle of the Ninth

The Eagle of the Ninth Summary | Plot Summary

The Eagle of the Ninth is a historical novel, the saga of Marcus Flavius Aquila, a young Roman Centurion in Britain about 127 A. D. When Marcus is wounded, he decides to rescue the totem of his father's Lost Legion, the "unlucky Ninth." Accompanied by his faithful Briton retainer and friend Esca, Marcus travels amongst the barbarians disguised as an oculist. The two retrieve the Eagle from an Epidaii tribe and make a mad dash for the safety of Hadrian's Wall, eluding their pursuers by stealth and misdirection. Returning home, Marcus finds his dream of reviving the Ninth shattered, but he is awarded a farm of his own by a grateful Roman Senate. He chooses to remain in Britain among his new family and friends.

As the novel begins, after a wound forces Marcus to leave the Second Roman Legion, Marcus spends time recuperating at the home of his Uncle Aquila. Despite Aquila's assurances that he can remain as long as he likes, Marcus feels the need to build a new life outside the Legions. He meets Cottia, the beautiful young niece of Aquila's pompous next-door neighbor. Marcus is impressed by the valor of a gladiator named Esca, and he buys the man as a personal slave. The two adopt a wolf cub and name it Cub.

When Marcus learns that the Eagle of the Lost Ninth Legion, his father's old command, is being held by Celtic tribesmen, he determines to get it back. Marcus grants Esca his freedom, and Esca agrees to accompany him as a friend. They travel through Scotland with Marcus disguised as a Greek oculist, or eye doctor. When the two men find the Eagle in the Holy Place of the Epidaii, Marcus learns the fate of the Lost Ninth from a deserter and an old Celtic warrior. About one quarter of the Legion, a thousand soldiers, were killed by the tribesmen as they marched north, and half of the remaining force mutinied. The remaining soldiers, lead by Marcus's father, fought bravely but were severely outnumbered. At the end, Marcus's father was the last man alive, bravely struggling to keep the Eagle aloft.

Marcus's hopes that the Ninth Legion will be reformed are dashed. The Senate will never reinstate a Legion with such a dishonorable history. Nevertheless, Marcus refuses to leave the Eagle behind. He steals it, and with Esca, he makes a run for the safety of Hadrian's Wall, five days south. They are pursued by angry tribesmen, and after two narrow escapes, they finally arrive safely with the Eagle. For his bravery, Esca is awarded Roman citizenship by the Senate, and Marcus is given a full pension from the Legion, including land in Etruria or Britain. Marcus chooses to remain in Britain with Cottia and his Uncle Aquila, realizing that is where he truly belongs.

The novel was published in 1954, and according to the author, it is very loosely based on true events. Around 117 A.D., the Ninth Roman Legion, stationed near the present-day city of York in Britain, marched north to suppress an uprising by Caledonian tribes. The Legion was never heard of again. In the early 1900s, a wingless eagle was found near Silchester in England. Sutcliff used her active imagination to combine the two into one fictional account. Modern scholars dispute both of Sutcliff's "facts," asserting that there is documented history of the Ninth Legion in later years outside Britain and that the eagle statuette was not in fact a legionary eagle. Nevertheless, Sutcliff's narrative remains one of the most riveting historical novels set in ancient Roman times.