A poet gives up happiness in order to revenge the death of his daughter. 

SYNOPSIS:

The poet Adscheppe and his daughter Sadith are captured and enslaved by Roman soldiers and are brought to Rome. While Adscheppe is sold to the intelligent but cruel slave owner Paterfamilias, Sadith lives with a backalley papyrus maker, and learns her craft. When Paterfamilias frees Adscheppe because of his failure to break his spirit, Adscheppe searches for Sadith in the city and takes up his old profession. He quickly is welcomed into the house of the emperor, Marcus Aurelius, and not just gains his trust, but frees him from a melancholy that disabled his happiness and ability to rule Rome.

At the same time, a new extremist religious group is formed. The Kalvinist preach the necessity of virtue in order to be free of sin. They find new followers fast. Even the emperor himself admires their stoic aspirations. Sadith fears that the Kalvinist will harm her father because of Adscheppe's aversion of megalomania and sets out to ridicule their self-proclaim god-leader, Kalvinius. Kalvinius cannot take the ridicule and disobedience and, in an attempt to show that one can burn their sins away and experience the truth of god through the fire trial, kidnaps Sadith and burns her on a stake.

The Roman officials are alarmed and Marcus Aurelius forbids the Kalvinists. Adscheppe thinks the death of his daughter is a made up story by powerful men to keep him from the emperor. He visits the Harpy who has filed the official complaint and the Harpy confirms Sadith's death. Adscheppe then uses his ability to charm and entertain people to ruin Kalvinius and leaves him desperate and sick. Adscheppe has lost his mind in the process and lives as a beggar on the street. Kalvinius dies of the sickness and fails his promise to die in the fire himself as a true messiah. Marcus Aurelius who, in Adscheppe's absence, has fallen for the Kalvinist's ideas again, then burns himself publicly in order to fulfill Kalvinius's idea. Adscheppe had his revenge. It remains unclear if he can enjoy it.