Can you imagine as a child experiencing the disappearance of your father and shortly after losing your mother to grief? That was the life of Centurion Marcus Flavius Aquila in the book The Eagle of the Ninth. Marcus’ father left to go with his men, the Ninth Hispana and the Eagle, the legion’s symbol, when Marcus was ten years old. His father never returned, and shortly after, Marcus’ mother died of grief. Throughout this book, we witness actions from Marcus that make him a hero. Marcus was catapulted into a life were he had every right to be haunted by grief. However, he grew into a man of mercy, courage, and loyalty making Marcus a hero of inspiration.
One of the greatest moments of the story is when Marcus saves Esca. Esca is a slave
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that is fighting as a gladiator in the arena. Uncle Aquila took Marcus to see the gladiators at the arena to take his mind off of his injured leg and his sadness. The crowd wanted to see death. The Fisher and Esca began their inane fanfare of battle. Rather quickly, Esca finds himself trapped and the Fisher is in a position to kill him instantly. The Fisher looked at the crowd for their answer. Marcus looked at Esca and feels touched. Thumbs up!
Thumbs up! You fools!..He had been aware from the first of Uncle Aquila's great thumb pointing skyward beside him; suddenly he was aware of a few others echoing the gesture, and then a few more. For a long, long moment the swordsman's fate still hung in the balance, and then as thumb after thumb went up, the Fisher slowly lowered his trident with a little mocking bow, he stepped back (Sutcliff, pg.47).
While the daunting crowd wanted Esca to die, Marcus wanted Esca to live. Marcus’ merciful actions saved Esca. Later, after Marcus saves Esca, Marcus buys Esca as a body slave. He bought Esca to be a body slave to help him physically because Marcus had a serious leg injury. The mercy that Marcus showed led the way for them to be friends.
Marcus and Esca decided to go on a journey to the northern tribes to try to find the missing eagle and possibly learn what happened to his father. It takes courage and strength to embark on a journey to honor his father and bring back the missing eagle from the dangerous northern tribes.
The Legate said, “You understand the position? The Province of Valentia, whatever it once was, whatever it may be again, is not worth an outworn sandal-strap today. You will be going out alone into enemy territory, and if you want to run into trouble, there will be nothing that Rome can or will do to help you” (Sutcliff,
pg.92). Marcus had to have the courage to go into an unknown and terrifying land alone with Esca. He also had to have the courage to learn the truth about his father. Marcus was able to solve the mystery of his fathers disappearance. Marcus also retrieved the Eagle. Not only was Marcus merciful, but he was courageous. Courage and mercy are very great qualities, but it is loyalty that is his greatest quality. Marcus is loyal to his father by wanting to honor him and he is also is loyal to Esca. Esca and Marcus had recovered the eagle. They were about to leave when they got the eagle out of its’ hiding spot when they realized that Marcus’ brooch was missing from his cape as well as a big piece of cloth. If the tribe’s hunting dogs were to pick up the scent that would lead the tribe’s huntsmen to Marcus and Esca. They had to come up with a plan. The first plan was to find the brooch before the hounds did but that ended in Esca dying because he would tell a story that would cost him his life if they saw through the lie. The other plan was a little bit more hopeful, but they still could be caught. Yet Marcus could not and would not leave his friend to die. Marcus was already drawing up his legs under him; but he checked an instant, his gaze holding Esca’s. “For an idea,” he said. He got up stiffly. “We are intros together, and we will win clean together, or not at all. It may be days before that accursed brooch is found, none the less the sooner we get down to Valentia the better.” Esca got up also, saying nothing. there was no more to be said, and he knew it (Sutcliff, pg.161) Marcus was loyal to Esca by not turning his back on him. They are on the mission together. They went into the mission together and are finishing together. Marcus is merciful to go against the daunting crowd of the arena to save a slave’s life. He is courageous by going into enemy territory to find the lost eagle. Marcus is loyal to his father by honoring him, and he is loyal to Esca. Each example shows Marcus’ merciful, courageous, and loyal traits. These traits weave together to make Marcus a hero of inspiration.
... His reforms, as far-reaching as they initially were, were short lived, and were annulled soon after his retirement. He thought that the People, meeting in the Concilium Plebis, were an unrepresentative and irresponsible body unworthy to govern, but he largely failed to infuse a new sense of responsibility to the Senate (Appian in Williams, p.149). Above all, arrangements to control the advancement of men through the Cursus Honorum –the threat from which his own career had so nakedly demonstrated – were clearly inadequate against men of determined ambition (Massie, p. 176). In final analysis, Sulla’s actions as a politician and a military leader, while occasionally bringing him prestige - dignatas, were major factors leading to the subsequent weakening of the Republic.
Military Weakness is also another reason for Rome’s fall because the army is what makes sure that the empire is safe. Document B states that the
To begin, Esperanza first realizes how trapped she is in Mango Street in one of
Estevan and Esperanza’s sacrifice involved a major part of their lives. Both Estevan and Esperanza sacrificed their daughter for the lives of seventeen other people. Back in Guatemala, they were part of an secret underground teachers union where important information was passed by word of mouth.
Esperanza, the most liberated of the sisters, devoted her life to make other people’s lives better. She became a reporter and later on died while covering the Gulf Crisis. She returned home, to her family as a spirit. At first, she spoke through La Llorona, a messenger who informed La Loca that her sister has died. All her family members saw her. She appeared to her mother as a little girl who had a nightmare and went near to her mother for comfort. Caridad had conversations with her about politics and La Loca talked to her by the river behind their home.
...for success, he robs his audience of the right to make certain determinations about characters such as Tarquin Superbus and Romulus because of his bias toward the motivation behind their actions. Livy’s The Rise of Rome was a grand effort and an amazing undertaking. Cataloguing the years of Roman history consolidated rumor and legend into fact, creating a model for Rome to follow. Livy’s only error in this vast undertaking was in imprinting his own conception of morality and justice onto his work, an error that pulls the reader away from active thought and engaging debate. In doing so, Livy may have helped solidify a better Rome, but it would have been a Rome with less of a conception of why certain things are just, and more of a flat, basely concluded concept of justice.
Sallust was an obscure historical writer from the first century BCE. In The War With Catiline, he tells of the conspiracy of Catiline and his plan to bring about civil war in Rome and over power the Senate. Sallust depicts this historical event very fairly and with a seemingly unbiased attitude, although he was not involved in any way with or against the conspirators. It was said that in this period of time things had been going very well, “…Our country had grown great through toil and the practice of justice, when great kings had been vanquished in war, savage tribes and mighty peoples subdued by force of arms, when Carthage, the rival of Rome’s sway, had perished root and branch, and all seas and lands were open…” This time of absolute supremacy gave way to a generation of Romans who were greedy and power hungry. Sallust viewed this...
4)Rosenstein, Nathan Stewart., and Robert Morstein-Marx. A Companion to the Roman Republic. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2006. Print.
Overall, Esperanza experienced multiple events that shaped her into the person she is. The experiences she had built the foundation for what she values by exposing her to the world around her. By moving to the house on Mango Street and experiencing the traumatic events along with the social norms Esperanza became the person she wanted to be even when the circumstances weren’t in her
Rome, even at its beginnings, proved to be a force to be reckoned with. It’s rapid growth and accumulation of power and repeated victories over powerful neighbors set Rome in a position of great authority and influence. As the leader of early Rome, Romulus’ effective command of his men and governance of his people provided the foundation for the building of a great city. Livy emphasizes Romulus’ possible divine origins and strong ties to deities as a validation and reinforcement of his ability to rule. A nation’s sole defense cannot be just bricks and mortar, it requires an army and a will and Romulus was able to successfully take action against the aggressors when action was needed.
...” (Livy, Rome 5.23). However, he never gave up on his home and his people, even when they gave up on him. Camillus’s “fervent wish” was that “love for this place will so fill your hearts that you will remain where you are…wracked by longing, homesick for your native soil” (Livy, Rome 5.54). Camillus understood that Rome was more than a conglomeration of buildings and stone. Rome was an idea, to be fostered, protected and shared. He was their savior, their misunderstood leader—a hero before his due time. Henceforth, this is Livy’s intention in engraving the life and story of Marcus Furius Camillus for the world, so that one day we may look back and seek the compassionate hero of Rome: the sun in the land of darkness. Her protector and Second Founder.
Esperanza is a very strong woman in herself. Her goals are not to forget her "reason for being" and "to grow despite the concrete" so as to achieve a freedom that's not separate from togetherness.
One example of this mercy is when Marcus spares Esca in the arena. Thumbs down from the crowd means Esca will die; thumbs up guarantees he will live. Marcus puts his thumb up and thinks to himself, “Thumbs up! Thumbs up, you fools!” (Sutcliff 47). At this moment, his uncle puts his thumb up, along with the rest of the crowd. This shows Marcus’s determination to save Esca. Marcus saves Esca in a different way by freeing him from the shackles of slavery. At the start of their journey, Marcus gives Esca his papers of freedom. He views Esca as a friend, not as a slave. Another example of Marcus’s mercy is when Marcus does not kill the chieftain’s brother in the watchtower. Marcus has the power to kill the chieftain’s brother and two other tribesmen, but he decides to spare them due to the fact that they showed him kindness at their
Shakespeare’s complex play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar contains several tragic heroes; a tragic hero holds high political or social esteem yet possesses an obvious character flaw. This discernible hubris undoubtedly causes the character’s demise or a severe forfeiture, which forces the character to undergo an unfeigned moment of enlightenment and shear reconciliation. Brutus, one of these tragic heroes, is a devout friend of the great Julius Caesar, that is, until he makes many execrable decisions he will soon regret; he becomes involved in a plot to kill the omniscient ruler of Rome during 44 B.C. After committing the crime, Mark Antony, an avid, passionate follower of Caesar, is left alive under Brutus’s orders to take his revenge on the villains who killed his beloved Caesar. After Antony turns a rioting Rome on him and wages war against him and the conspirators, Brutus falls by his own hand, turning the very sword he slaughtered Caesar with against himself. Brutus is unquestionably the tragic hero in this play because he has an innumerable amount of character flaws, he falls because of these flaws, and then comes to grips with them as he bleeds on the planes of Philippi.
The military system of Rome was once viewed as a fierce and influential force. The late Roman army was much different. It was a ...