Will Belisarius have the strength to fight one final battle through the might of his sword and tongue? Will his burdensome endeavors mean anything when his days are finally done?  Will Rome stand after he falls?  

 And, most importantly, will his fervor quench the flame that is his wife's lusts? will he have the strength to endure heartache and reignite his passionate loyalty to the woman that he loves?

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The year is 543 A.D., and the Eastern Roman Empire is struggling under the plague-stricken Emperor Justinian.

General Flavius Belisarius is a soldier known for his sense of honor, duty, and diligence, on the battlefield and loyalty to the Emperor after Rome emerges victorious against the Persians, Vandals, and Goths. But underneath this triumphal façade, his patience for his wife’s ongoing infidelity and deceit weighs heavily on his broken heart. When even the possibility of continued matinee with her lover shakes him to the core, he summons his wife to join him on Rome's frontier, but only as his prisoner,   and arranges for the castration of her lover, his lecherous godson. His heart and mind are finally at ease, knowing the two lovers cannot be together.

But that ease is met with retribution and strife when he is again recalled to the capital in shame and reprisal for the third time, on the whim of the vengeful empress Theodora. Her retribution goes even further when he faces trumped-up charges of high treason.  He narrowly escapes living out the rest of his days in a sealed-up, dark, wet, filth-infested cell, when the Emperor regains control and releases him. 

   He is chastised with an impossible order that is certain to end in disaster and disgrace: to retake Italy from the resurgent Goths—but without a field army or gold from the treasury.  With his men on the brink of starvation, while serving under the Emperor's banner, he realizes that prestige, honor, and victory are mere vanities, and he yearns for a simpler life.  

But rest does not come, as enemies of the Empire still lie in wait, and the tongues of wicked conspirators never quiet.