Michelle Holmes

“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

“Better to be a laughing-stock than lose the fort for fear of being one.”
― Rosemary Sutcliff, The Eagle of the Ninth

“The gilded wreaths and crowns that the Legion had won in the days of its honour were gone from the crimson-bound staff; the furious talons still clutched the crossed thunderbolts, but where the great silver wings should have arched back in savage pride, were only empty socket-holes in the flanks of gilded bronze.”
― 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