After his father's death, the teenaged Tongius becomes a merchant like his uncle Camalus and travels through Turdetania and other places, until circumstances make him clash with the Roman authorities in Gadir.

He attends also to Viriathus' marriage with the daughter of a Lusitanian aristocrat, Astolpas, and is forced to work with three ambitious Turdetanian warriors, Audax, Ditalcus and Minurus, who seemingly support their cause.

Command now falls on Viriathus' second-in-command, Tautalus, who decides to surrenders to Caepio and accept his terms under the threat of waging a suicide war.

The novel ends many years later, when a Roman lieutenant named Hirtuleius finds the memories and notes a prophecy mentioned by Tongius that seems to refer to his commander, Quintus Sertorius.

[1][2][4] It would go to receive 15 editions in the first decade after its release in 1984,[4] with critics praising Aguiar's extensive historical research, accessible writing style and avoidance of political clichés.

"[6] Quadros saw the novel's Viriathus as a model of hero in the tradition of Thomas Carlyle and Max Scheler, standing out not only due to his bravery, but also to his spiritual intelligence.

[6] In his review in El País, critic Jacinto Antón praised the novel as a demystification of Viriathus which, in turn, only makes his image even more powerful.

"[4] According to Miguel Real, Aguiar deconstructs the patriotic, nationalistic image attributed to Viriathus in the 16th century, making him return to an Iberian or Hispanic state not bound to any nationality.

It drew comparisons to Ernest K. Gann's The Antagonists (1971) and Guy Ratchet's Massada: Les guerriers de Dieu (1979), as well as the posterior Druids by Morgan Llywelyn (1990).