Esca tossed the slender papyrus roll onto the cot,....

“ Esca tossed the slender papyrus roll onto the cot, and set his own hands over Marcus's. "I have not served the Centurion because I was his slave," he said, dropping unconsciously into the speech of his own people. "I have served Marcus, and it was not slave-service...my stomach will be glad when we start on this hunting trail. ”

Rosemary Sutcliff

From : The Eagle of the Ninth