Wayne

“And it came to Marcus suddenly that slaves very seldom whistled. They might sing, if they felt like it or if the rhythm helped their work, but whistling was in some way different; it took a free man to make the sort of noise Esca was making.”
― Rosemary Sutcliff, The Eagle of the Ninth

“Esca tossed the slender papyrus roll onto the cot, and set his own hands over Marcus's. "I have not served the Centurion because I was his slave," he said, dropping unconsciously into the speech of his own people. "I have served Marcus, and it was not slave-service...my stomach will be glad when we start on this hunting trail.”
― Rosemary Sutcliff, The Eagle of the Ninth

“And what will they do to you when you have told them this story?'

Esca said very simply, 'They will kill me.'

'I am sorry, but I do not think much of that plan.' Marcus said.”
― Rosemary Sutcliff, The Eagle of the Ninth

“Before he left Rome, Marcus had been in a fair way to becoming a charioteer, in Cradoc's sense of the word, and now desire woke in him, not to possess this team, for he was not one of those who much be able to say "Mine" before they can truly enjoy a thing, but to have them out and harnessed; to feel the vibrating chariot floor under him, and the spread reins quick with life in his hands, and these lovely, fiery little creatures in the traces, his will and theirs at one.”
― Rosemary Sutcliff, The Eagle of the Ninth