The Stolen Eagle - Plot

Plot

During the Siege of Alesia in 52 BC, Centurion Lucius Vorenus of the 13th Legion commands his men as Gallic warriors fall on his line. In contrast to the Gauls' chaotic charge, the Roman files fight with machine-like precision – until one legionary, Titus Pullo, breaks ranks and charges into the crowd of Gauls. Vorenus angrily orders him back into formation, but Pullo hits him. Pullo is dragged back into the lines by the other legionaries. Later, the assembled soldiers watch as Pullo is flogged and condemned to death for striking an officer. The day after the siege, Vercingetorix, "King of all the Gauls", is brought before Julius Caesar and made to surrender. The eight years of the Gallic Wars are over. In Rome, Caesar's niece, Atia of the Julii orders her son Octavian to deliver a horse she has purchased straight to Caesar in Gaul to ensure that he remembers them above all other well-wishers.

In the Roman Senate, Cato the Younger moves that Caesar be stripped of his command and recalled to Rome to answer charges of misusing his office and illegal warmongering. Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, as sole Consul, vetoes the motion, insisting that Caesar is his friend. At the theater that night, Scipio introduces his daughter Cornelia Metella to Pompey as a prospective wife, while Cato warns him that he must ally against Caesar before it is too late. Pompey publicly asserts again he believes that Caesar means no harm, although privately, Pompey is troubled by Caesar's rising prestige and power. He tells one of his slaves to "kill two birds with one stone" during a planned trip to Gaul. At night in the encampment of the 13th Legion, the Aquila (Eagle Standard) is stolen by brigands. To avoid a potentially disastrous drop in morale, Mark Antony orders Vorenus to retrieve it. Vorenus discovers that the thieves were "Blue Spaniards" headed to a distant corner of Gaul. Feeling his mission to track them down is doomed to failure, Vorenus has the condemned Pullo released from the stockade to assist him.

In camp, Caesar welcomes Marcus Junius Brutus, his unofficial stepson whose mother is Caesar's lover, Servilia of the Junii. Later, at a party hosted by Servilia, Brutus confides to Pompey that the loss of the eagle has made Caesar unusually vulnerable – to hear Brutus tell it, his men are on the brink of mutiny and Caesar is demoralized. On the road to Caesar's camp in Gaul, Octavian is taken captive. At Caesar's request, Atia searches for a suitable wife for the recently-widowed Pompey. She instructs her daughter Octavia to divorce her husband Glabius, despite her protests that they are deeply in love. Atia then presents Octavia to Pompey at a party and offers her for pre-marital relations, which Pompey takes advantage of. Meanwhile, Vorenus and Pullo set off in search of the eagle and encounter and rescue Octavian from his captors. When Vorenus explains who they are, Octavian shows himself to be more shrewd and devious than either he or Pullo. He explains that their mission is only a gesture, since the theft of the eagle is actually a blessing in disguise to Caesar. Civil war between Caesar and Pompey is inevitable, but Caesar needs Pompey to make the first move so as not to appear the aggressor; Pompey is likely to do just that if he believes that Caesar's soldiers are on the verge of deserting him.

As Octavian says that Caesar would prefer the eagle to remain lost, Vorenus and Pullo discover evidence that Pompey ordered its capture. The trio returns in triumph to camp, where a surprised yet grateful Caesar takes stock. He has the eagle back, and more than adequate proof of Pompey's hostility. He informs Pompey of his next move: to winter the 13th Legion at Ravenna, on the border with Italy, in preparation for pressing his rights to the Consulship. Pompey breaks his ties with Caesar and takes Cornelia as his wife. Octavia, humiliated at being used by Pompey and heartbroken over her now-pointless divorce, says she wants him dead.