Claudius Hieronimianuss

Contains: Placidus with curly Greek hair. A Legate who is Egyptian, like in the book, not a chubby white guy like in the film. Roman Imperialism. Mostly-failed attempt at improbable crossover with Le Carré.

It seemed to me just a little bit 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 - not based in Calleva - coincidentally staying with Uncle Aquila again!

What if those aren’t all coincidences?

Thanks to smillaraaq for beta reading and many helpful suggestions. Any stupid mistakes are probably in the bits I added on afterwards. And philmophlegm for helping me work out what the Legate was doing in Rome.