In Sutcliff's original story, Marcus is accompanied on his adventure to the north by a Briton, Esca. Their relationship speaks of an idealised vision of the British empire: Esca is the loyal companion who serves Marcus as an inferior not because he is compelled to do so but through a sense of devotion. Unsurprisingly, Macdonald has intervened. In Brock and Macdonald's retelling, the story is not only a physical one north of the wall, but it also sees Marcus undertaking an inner journey: the gradual recognition that other cultures' values are as important as his own. Macdonald says: "The US would like to imagine that the rest of the world shares – or should share – their values. That's how I imagine the Romans coming to Britain: thinking, 'how could you not share our values?'" It's an intriguing thought that reminds me of a famous passage in Tacitus's Agricola, the historian's biography of his father-in-law, who was governor of Britain from AD78-84. The historian somewhat acerbically notes the role that Latin culture had in pacifying the Britons – the power not so much of their values, as it happens, as their creature comforts. "And so the population was gradually led into the demoralising temptations of arcades, baths and sumptuous banquets. The unsuspecting Britons spoke of such novelties as 'civilisation', when in fact, they were only a feature of their enslavement."
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