Casca: The Eternal Mercenary – Book Review

“Casca: The Eternal Mercenary” is the first in a book series written by Barry Sadler and Tony Roberts.[i] The series was popular in the mid-1980s. Casca is ageless and immortal. The short-lived 1997 series “Roar” had the same character, went by the character’s surname Longinus (Sabastian Roché).[ii] This review will cover the first book and may contain some spoilers.

[i] Barry Sadler gained popularity for the writing and performing “The Ballad of the Green Berets” the number one single in 1966. Tony Roberts continued the series after Sadler’s death in 1989.

[ii] Longinus is not mentioned in the Bible. The name appears in the apocryphal “Gospel of Nicodemus” and in the “Letter of Herod to Pilate”. They have completely different fates for the soldier. Ehrman, Bart D, and Zlatko Pleše. The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011, p. 523.

The book opens with an American sergeant being brought into a field hospital during the Vietnam Conflict. His wounds were such that he should already be dead. The book has him being referred to as a Staff Sergeant and a Sergeant First Class. He has scars from wounds all over his body.

The doctor sees that man is healing from his mortal wound. The doctor removes a bronze arrowhead from his leg. An amateur historian claims it’s from the 3^rd century. In the series universe there is a legend of such a man called, “one who must wait.” The doctor confronts the sergeant and the sergeant admits he’s Casca Rufio Longinus. The rest of the story is in flashback.

Casca is on an execution detail. Three men are to be crucified. One is Jesus Christ. Casca is the man who throws his spear into Jesus. Casca hears a voice: "Soldier, you are content with what you are. Then that you shall remain until we meet again." Casca attributes what he heard to Golgotha’s heat.

He gets into a fight with another soldier over a woman. They mortally wound each other. He realizes from his recovery from the mortal wound and his subsequent torture that he can’t die. He is sentenced to life working in a mine complex. He works the first few years on the outside where time seems to accelerate before he is sent into the mine. He survives a cave in. He tries to switch identity but an official recognizes him and knows Casca is old even though he looks young. Casca confides in him and the official comes up with a plan to get Casca his freedom. The plan is a partial success. Casca gets out of imprisonment but is sent to Rome as a slave and gladiator. The 1962 movie “Barabbas” has a similar character arc.[i] The official followed Casca’s advice on how to deal with a nagging wife.[ii] The official is a happy man when Casca last sees him.

On the voyage to Rome, Casca meets an East Asian missionary who teaches him some martial arts moves. The missionary proposed that maybe people change because they get old, as opposed to changing because they acquire wisdom. This theme recurs throughout the book. Casca uses these martial arts in the arena and eventually wins his freedom. The freedom is short lived thanks to his foolish drunken behavior while celebrating his freedom. He’s sent to a galley as a prisoner for life. This is reminiscent of Ben Hur. Eventually a ship he’s on sinks and he goes down chained to his oar.[iii]

The book gives a rundown of what he does during about a hundred years of wandering. He can’t stay in one place for too long else the people may judge him a witch. He can’t die but he would feel the pain. He ends up how he began, as a Roman legionnaire. There is a detailed account of the campaign and his part in an epic battle. This closes the loop of Casca who has served in different armies and fought in many battles for almost 2,000 years.

[i] Barabbas was the man who the people chose to set free instead of Jesus.

[ii] The advice was dated in the 1980s.

[iii] The oarsmen on the Roman galleys were skilled seamen, not prisoners. Lew Wallace’s 1880 novel “Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ” either created or popularized the myth of Roman oarsmen as prisoners.