After several unsuccessful suicide attempts, Totò finds himself in an animal asylum.
In ancient Rome, tyrannical Emperor Caligula is assassinated through the machinations of Messalina. She then makes a conquest of Marcus, who forces the Senate to name her husband, Claudius, as emperor. Messalina's wicked ways continue when she falls in love with Ennio, a slave. Ennio is also loved by Egyptian princess Mirit, but he loves neither of them, preferring the company of Ela, a Greek slave.
At the end of the 19th century, a middle-class woman explains why she cannot get along with her husband, a good man but a little rough around the edges: she cannot forget that during the Risorgimento she fell in love with a noble conspirator. Now, however, she realizes that her true love is her husband.
