Quo Vadis

Under Nero, the patrician Vinicius falls in love with Lygia, a royal hostage raised in a Roman household and secretly Christian. Used to getting his way, he has her claimed for the palace; she escapes, and he discovers a community living by rules opposed to his own. When Rome burns and Nero looks for culprits, the Christians are thrown to the arena and Vinicius must choose. The novel explores power, conversion and the resistance of a new faith. Sienkiewicz rebuilds imperial Rome with a historian's care, at the pace of an adventure story.