The Last Days of Pompeii is a love story set in that Roman town just before the famous eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried it and most of its citizens in ash. It draws a vivid portrait of the lifestyle of the Imperial Romans, their daily baths, symposia, and gladiatorial entertainments, their religious practices and their homes while presenting a busy plot full of decadent, diabolical seducers, religious fanatics, and glutinous parasites.The novel itself tells the story of the Athenian Glaucus, his love, the beautiful Ione, and a blind flower-girl Nydia, who is secretly in love with Glaucus.
Threatening the love of Glaucus and Ione is Iones guardian, the decadent and deceitful Egyptian Arbaces, who lusts after Ione himself.
