Visionary, scholar, idealist, poet and author of a momentous epic and other timeless works, Wishart's Virgil is a man of contradictions: celibate but capable of great love; stuffy, sometimes prudish but often extremely warm and open; shy but with a talent for friendship and a certain magnetism. Through his eyes we gain an oblique view of great historical events: the assassination of Caesar, the downfall of Pompey and the tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra. He resists involvement in politics until fate leads him inexorably to the meeting with Octavian that is to result in the commission of his masterpiece, THE AENEID.