"But these things that Rome had to give, are they not good things?" Marcus demanded. "Justice, and order, and good roads; worth having, surely?"
"These be all good things," Esca agreed. "But the price is too high."
"The price? Freedom?" . . .
"And when the time comes that we begin to understand your world, too often we lose the understanding of our own."

A great and never-ceasing smother of noise: voices, marching feet, turning wheels, the ring of hammer on armourer's anvil, the clear calling of trumpets over all. This was the great Wall of Hadrian, shutting out the menace of the North.