Selfishness Does Not Pay - Quo Vadis

Because of my lack of ideas, I chose to write about a book I loved so much and to present a scene about selfishness from it.

The book is “Quo Vadis” by the Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz. The title means “Where are you going” in Latin and it is about the Christians who where persecuted by Nero, the Roman Emperor of the time, also a poet and a singer.

“Quo Vadis” is the story of Marcus Vinicius, who, came back from war in Asia Minor, tells his uncle, Petronius, that he is in love with Ligia, the daughter of a Ligian king and rose as his own daughter by the ex-general Aulus Placidus. Petronius, willing to fulfill the wish of his nephew plans to take Ligia from the house of Aulus and to give her to Nero, whose friend he was and then to give her to Vinicius. Vinicius agrees because he loves Ligia and wants to marry her. He does not know Ligia loves him too. At a very Roman party in the house of Nero, Ligia is horrified of what she sees and swears she will never be like any Roman woman, without decency or fear of God. Vinicius who is drunk kisses her by force. Ligia is saved by her friend and slave, the giant Ursus. She decides to leave Nero no matter what it takes and also Vinicius whom she loved and seeks refuge between their spiritual brothers: the Christians.
For a moment of selfishness, Vinicius lost everything that ever mattered to him: the love of Ligia. He used the force on a thing that was coming freely to him. I learned that a moment of weakness, of force, stupidity and selfishness can destroy everything you have searched for. Ligia did not come back in Nero’s palace. And that was the day I understood that selfishness doesn’t pay.

Sorry for the bad grammar.