The people do not like the Romans invading their homes and taking away their free spirits. Esca explained why those north of the wall despise the Romans by comparing Marcus’ Roman dagger with a shield from the tribe. On the Roman dagger, he comments how it is made with tight curves and lines on both sides to create balance. He also mentions a stiff flower and then how the same stiff designs are repeated again and again. When talking about the shield, he mentions the free flowing curves and how they are the curves of life. He then says to Marcus “You cannot expect the man who made this shield to live easily under the rule of the man who worked the sheath of this dagger (Sutcliff, The Eagle, pg. 65).” The Romans imperialism on the north takes away the freedom and spirituality of the people, which is why they resist them imposing on their lands. This then leads to death of the peoples of the tribes and the Romans abusing the tribe’s women and forcing those left alive into submission or more …show more content…
For example, Agricola states: “These are the men who just last year attacked a single legion like thieves in the night, only to be broken by your mere battle-cry (Tacitus, Agricola, 34, pg.23).” In The Eagle, the Britons do the same thing by attacking a single legion. By saying ‘thieves in the night” Agricola is stating that the Britons launched a quick surprise attack, and were still defeated. This is seen in The Eagle where in the middle of the night, the Britons use the cover of the dark and a heard of loose cattle to launch an attack on Marcus and his camp. The text states: “The attack came with a silent uprush of shadows that swarmed in from every side (Sutcliff, The Eagle, pg. 22).” This shows that like Agricola said, they attack in an ambush but in both cases they were still defeated by the