 In the novel he opposes both the Ostrogoths and the imperial Eastern Romans and strives to rebuild the Western Roman Empire, but never reveals his true motives to others, while plotting to achieve his goal and corrupting the relationship between the Ostrogoths and the Byzantines, except for his fellow conspirators.The conspirators are mainly members of patrician families that lost their influence under Gothic rule.Accordingly, they have names like Scaevola and Albinus.