Gravitas: Collapsing Empire - Paperback

by Barry Sheinkopf (Author)

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.