Gravitas

In 190 A.D., Commodus Antoninus has been ruling 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 as his rule continues. 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 the dilemma or its consequence. Now, each of them has to find their way in this altered world or fall with it. Sound familiar?