Funny / The Eagle of the Ninth

• Marcus intends to buy Esca from the gladiatorial ring with the thought he can serve as Marcus' body-slave (like a manservant), and asks Uncle Aquila how to go about it.

  Uncle Aquila: Send down to the circus slave-master and offer half of what you expect to pay. And sleep with a knife under your pillow thereafter.

• Marcus and Esca are having an intense conversation about Esca's insecurities and, frankly, rather awkward social situation as a slave in Ancient Rome, and in the middle of it, Marcus' new wolf pup, a gift from Esca, bites his thumb. Happily this defuses the situation and restores Esca's confidence in their friendship.

  Marcus: And now your gift has bitten me! Mithras! His mouth is full of daggers!
  Esca: Then you had best pay me a sesterce for the lot of them. ^note This is probably referencing an old superstition that you should not give a blade as a gift or it will cut the friendship.

• Cottia relays a conversation she overheard, mimicking the voices.

  Cottia: (as Marcipor) Oh worthless one, thy master's wolf-whelp has bitten my toe! (as Esca) Then the gods grant that the taste of it will not make him sick!

• Cottia doesn't get why Marcus' leg interfering with marching in formation should bar him from the military. Marcus starts to explain but gets overridden by Cottia's indignation.
• When Marcus first gets the idea to travel through free Britain searching for the eagle under the guise of an oculist, Uncle Aquila points out one small flaw in his plan. Marcus knows nothing about treating eyes. Marcus counters that most oculists are quacks anyway, and he'll study briefly with a physician so at least he'll know something about what he's doing.
• When Esca and Marcus are crossing the Wall into free Britain, a soldier rags Marcus about his former cavalry horse. Marcus, in the guise of Demetrius the Oculist, begins hamming it up, going on about his importance and skills as an oculist and giving as good as he got in the snark battle.
• Part of Marcus' plan for escaping with the eagle requires letting their hosts think they wrongfully suspected Marcus and Esca of the theft, which is a breach of hospitality and shames the hosts. Marcus feels bad for causing their hosts to lose face (since they were correct - Marcus and Esca did steal the eagle), but when Esca dryly asks if he wants to return the eagle, Marcus amends that he doesn't feel as bad as that.
  • Though the situation is deadly serious and has significant potential political repercussions, the fact that all this plotting and strategizing is being done over a battered, broken statue of an eagle is a little amusing.
• During the chase, Esca trades in their worn out horses for fresh ones. Marcus is not impressed by the new stock.

  Marcus: Do you call these mossy-faced objects ponies?
  Esca: The man who sold them to me swore they were sired out of the stables of the High King of Erin.
  Marcus: Did you by any chance believe him?
  Esca: Oh no. I told the man I sold ours to that they were sired out of the stables of Queen Cartimandua. He did not believe me, either.

• Marcus and Esca escape in part because of a couple of teenage boys want to prove themselves and foolishly don't tell the adults when they realize where Marcus and Esca are hidden and go to confront them.
• Marcus and Esca run into Guern again with the local tribes hot on their trail. Guern offers to lead them through hidden paths. When Marcus asks what will happen to Guern if he's found with them, Guern pragmatically points out that if they're caught, he can always kill Marcus and Esca and get all the glory. Considering they'd be killed anyway if they got caught, and Guern, at least, would probably do it quickly, it seems a fair trade.
• When Marcus and Esca finally return, Marcus notices that Cub is extremely thin and wonders what they've been doing to them.

  Uncle Aquila: We have done nothing to Cub. Cub has been breaking his own wilful heart for his own amusement. Since you left, he has refused food from any but that chit Cottia, and since her going he has preferred to starve. That brute has been deliberately dying in our midst with the entire household buzzing round him like blow flies around a stranded fish.

• Marcus receives important mail, and Uncle Aquila shamelessly eavesdrops.

  Uncle Aquila: Curiosity is one of the privileges of extreme old age.