The Silver Branch (Sutcliff novel)

The Silver Branch is a historical adventure novel for children written by Rosemary Sutcliff and published in 1957, with illustrations by Charles Keeping. Set in Britain in the last decade of the 3rd century, it is the story of Justin and Flavius, two cousins in the Roman legions who find themselves in the intrigue and battle surrounding the struggles between Carausius, a self-proclaimed emperor in Britain, Allectus, Carausius's treasurer, and Constantius, emperor in Rome.

The silver branch of the title is an article in the possession of Carausius's slave Cullen, his eccentric fool who calls himself Carausius's hound and who wears a dog's tail as part of his motley. Subtle allusions to the silver branch recur in other novels in the Eagle of the Ninth series, and it presumably refers to the otherworldly musical instrument mentioned in the medieval Irish narrative The Voyage of Bran. The Silver Branch was also a symbol of authority and a temporary "pass card" used by the Celts, consisting of a sprig of mistletoe or an apple branch.

The Silver Branch is second in Sutcliff's Roman Britain Series, following The Eagle of the Ninth (1954) and preceding Frontier Wolf (1980), The Lantern Bearers (1959), and Sword at Sunset (1963).

Summary

The story is set in 3rd-century Roman Britain, when Marcus Aurelius Carausius (Curoi), the military commander, has rebelled against Rome and named himself the emperor of Britain and northern Gaul. After a series of naval victories, he is temporarily recognized by Rome's ruler Maximian.

Justin (Tiberius Lucius Justinianus), a shy young army surgeon who had just completed his apprenticeship in Beersheba, is posted to Britain for the first time, although his family has been connected with the island for years. On arriving at Rutupiae, he meets a young centurion called Flavius (Marcelus Flavius Aquila), who turns out to be a distant cousin, and they become fast friends.