`` Your men will wait till you have finished . '' ` My miserable thirty stood like wine-skins glistening in the hot sun , and Maximus led us to where his people had set a meal . Himself he mixed the wine . ' `` A year from now , '' he said , `` you will remember that you have sat with the Emperor of Britain -- and Gaul . '' ' `` Yes , '' said the Pater , `` you can drive two mules -- Gaul and Britain . '' ' `` Five years hence you will remember that you have drunk '' -- he passed me the cup and there was blue borage in it -- `` with the Emperor of Rome ! '' ' `` No ; you ca n't drive three mules . They will tear you in pieces , '' said my Father . ' `` And you on the Wall , among the heather , will weep because your notion of justice was more to you than the favour of the Emperor of Rome . '' ' I sat quite still . One does not answer a General who wears the Purple . ' `` I am not angry with you , '' he went on ; `` I owe too much to your Father -- '' ' `` You owe me nothing but advice that you never took , '' said the Pater . ' '' -- to be unjust to any of your family . Indeed , I say you may make a good Tribune , but , so far as I am concerned , on the Wall you will live , and on the Wall you will die , '' said Maximus . ' `` Very like , '' said my Father . `` But we shall have the Picts and their friends breaking through before long . You can not move all troops out of Britain to make you Emperor , and expect the North to sit quiet . '' ' `` I follow my destiny , '' said Maximus . ' `` Follow it , then , '' said my Father , pulling up a fern root ; `` and die as Theodosius died . '' ' `` Ah ! ''
said XXXXX .
Emperor Father Gaul Maximus Pater Picts Rome Theodosius Tribune borage