As the subtitle of the novel makes clear, the novel is "a narrative of the time of Nero." These are the time of the burning of Rome, the brutal persecutions of the Christians, and the apostles Peter and Paul. Despondent, fearful, and doubtful, Peter flees from a crucifixion in Rome. On the road, Peter meets Jesus, and he asks him: "Quo Vadis? Jesus?" Jesus answer is what Peter needed to hear to turn back and continue his divine ministry. "I am going to Rome," replies Jesus, "to be crucified again" (Eo Romam iterum crucifigi). At the time, Rome was the greatest of the ancient empires, yet by all means it was truly a brutal one. Only citizens had some rights. And slaves -property- suffered the worst treatment; that is, until the Christians came to the fore. Although Quo Vadis is an action book, it is also a love story between the Christian Lygia and the Roman noble Vinicius. It is a romance set in the midst of the moral upheavals that was tearing up the Roman Empire.