The Dream of Scipio

This novel about idealism and its attendant disappointments begins in the fifth century B.C.E., when a scholarly writer named Manlius devoted his life to upholding the ideals of civilization against creeping barbarism--a resolve that includes armed force. The story continues into the 14th century, during the time of the Black Plague, when an agent seeking out ancient manuscripts for Pope Clement VI (of the Avignon Papacy) comes across Manlius's Neoplatonist manuscript ("The Dream of Scipio"), and inspired by his own high ideals tries to circumvent another plague, that of anti-Semitism. Finally, a historian in occupied France during World War II who has studied Manlius's manuscript is forced to work as a censor for the Germans. Each of these three sections also includes a love story, and each is a subtle illustration of Plato's ideas about harmony and order.