Under the Eagle
UK First edition cover
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| Author | Simon Scarrow |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Eagle series |
| Genre | Historical novel |
| Publisher | Headline (UK) & Thomas Dunne Books (USA) |
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Publication date
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6 July 2000 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 256 pp (hardback edition) & 448 p. (paperback edition) |
| ISBN | (hardback edition) & (paperback edition) |
| OCLC | 43581022 |
| Followed by | The Eagle's Conquest |
Under the Eagle is the first book in the Eagle Series, by Simon Scarrow and is his debut novel, introducing the characters of Quintus Licinius Cato and Lucius Cornelius Macro. It was published in 2000.
55 BC: During the first Roman invasion of Britain, a group of legionaries lose the army's pay chest in a marsh while retreating to their ships. Harried by the British tribes, they can only mark the location of the marsh, while their commander, Julius Caesar, swears to return one day.
AD 43: On the Rhine frontier in Germania, a new draft of recruits arrive at the base of the Second Legion. One young recruit, Cato, bears a letter from Emperor Claudius appointing him to the rank of Centurion, however, since Cato is barely seventeen, the Legion's commander, Vespasian, proposes a compromise by appointing him optio, the centurion's second-in-command. The letter also contains another message, written in code, warning the legate that someone on his staff has been implicated in Scribonianus's failed coup attempt, and the Emperor has sent an unnamed Imperial agent to identify the person.
Cato, the son of a freed slave at the Imperial Palace, is unused to the harsh life of a Roman Legion, and is resented by his fellow recruits for being promoted ahead of them. He sticks through basic training through determination, earning Centurion Macro's grudging approval.
When a Roman tax collector is mutilated by the chief of a local German town, Vespasian sends the Third Cohort, under tribune Vitellius, which includes Macro's Sixth Century. Because Macro's regular optio is laid up by an injury, he conscripts Cato to replace him. No one is expecting any trouble, but once the Cohort is inside the village, they are ambushed by a much larger force of Germans hiding in the woods. The Cohort barricades itself behind the village's walls, with no option except to hold out until they are reported overdue at the base and Vespasian arrives with reinforcements.
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Wikipedia