Under the Eagle

Under the Eagle is the first book in the Eagle Series, by Simon Scarrow. It starts on the Rhine Frontier in 42, and centres on Macro, a newly appointed Centurion, and his new second-in-command, Quintus Lucinius Cato. The book opens with a short prologue set during the first Roman invasion in 55 BC. A group of legionaries lose the army's pay chest in a marsh while withdrawing to the ships. The action then shifts to the German frontier in AD 43, wh... more

Under the Eagle is the first book in the Eagle Series, by Simon Scarrow. It starts on the Rhine Frontier in 42, and centres on Macro, a newly appointed Centurion, and his new second-in-command, Quintus Lucinius Cato. The book opens with a short prologue set during the first Roman invasion in 55 BC. A group of legionaries lose the army's pay chest in a marsh while withdrawing to the ships. The action then shifts to the German frontier in AD 43, where a new draft of recruits are arriving at the base of the Second Legion. The early part of the book deals with Cato and his fellow recruits receiving basic training, and the attack on a Germanic town. In this attack Macro, whilst fighting off German warriors, is seriously wounded and is left for dead in the streets. However Cato finds and rescues Macro, which earns him a medal. The character of Vitellius, one of the six tribunes attached to the legion, is introduced and Cato falls in love with a young slave girl called Lavinia. The second... less