Claudius Hieronimianus’s People

Words: 7,750  (whoops.  Carried away again...)

Contains: Placidus. A Legate who is Egyptian, like in the book, not a chubby white guy like in the film. Roman Imperialism.

It seemed to me just a little bit too neat that Esca met the Tribune Placidus on a wolf hunt, then a year later, Placidus came with his Legate to stay with Uncle Aquila. And it’s also quite neat that Uncle Aquila’s old friend the Legate, who hasn’t seen him for 18 years, comes to visit with a pressing piece of news about the Eagle having been seen in the far North - a piece of news that is uniquely important to Marcus. And of course there is Placidus - such an annoying jerk, coming out with awkward truths at just the right moment to push Marcus the right way.

Then, when Marcus and Esca get back to Calleva against all the odds, there’s the Legate - who is not based in Calleva - coincidentally staying with Uncle Aquila again!

What if those aren’t all coincidences?

The germ of this idea started out as a 'Le Carré in Roman Britain' (hence the name).  I'm not sure I've really carried that off, but I hope I've caught just a little of the Le Carré flavour in places anyway.  Thanks to smillaraaq for beta reading and many helpful suggestions.  Any stupid mistakes are probably in the bits I added on afterwards. :-D. And philmophlegm for helping me work out what the Legate was doing in Rome.
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Historical Notes
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