Roman emperor Nero is used to getting what he wants. He has grown tired of his wife Octavia, and has become infatuated with Poppea. He succeeds in making Poppea the new empress, but soon he faces opposition from an outraged populace. Informed of the danger of an imminent popular uprising, Nero orders to set fire to the city, which he watches from a terrace, rejoicing and playing his lyra.
Pompeii 79AD, mere days before the Vesuvian eruption. Glaucus and Jone are in love with each other. Arbaces, the Egyptian High Priest, is determined to conquer Jone. Glaucus purchases Nydia, the blind and long-suffering slave. Nydia falls in love with Glaucus and asks Arbaces for his help. He gives her a potion to make Glaucus fall in love with her-- In fact, a poison which will cause violent insanity.
After seven years of traveling, Aeneas and the other Trojans are surprised by a storm that wrecks their ship on the African coast. Here they are led by the Amazons to the Queen of Carthage, Dido, who soon falls in love with Aeneas. When the King of Numidia, Iarbas, comes to marry Dido, she rejects him. But in the meantime Anchises appears to Aeneas in dreams, and commands him to leave to found Rome. So, while Iarbas’ army surrounds Carthage, Aeneas embarks secretly for Rome.
