In 190 A.D., Commodus Antoninus has ruled the Roman Empire for eleven years and replaced the measured government of his immediate predecessors with the capricious behavior of a madman. He is universally hated and feared. Four people scattered across the Empire-in Rome, Ostia, Spain, and Germany-have been struggling to understand the altered circumstances of their lives. Born into a stable world, they recognize it less and less. Little by little, the time-honored principle of gravitas-restraint, decency, service to country, respect for tradition, and care for others-is vanishing, and they wonder whether Commodus is the cause of their dilemma or its consequence. How they find their way in this altered world is the subject of this novel.