It wasn’t just heated floors, hot baths, aqueducts, and paved roads that the Romans did first and best—they were also experts at the art of love. From the most effective pickup lines to percipient advice on getting over a breakup, from grooming tips to sex tips, the Romans had time-proof solutions. Charlotte Higgins brings them together in this indispensable guide to love—a collection of the richest, most illuminating, and sensuous writing about this mysterious emotion that can move us to joy or despair.

Filled with the sage advice of Catullus, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Propertius, and Tibullus, this witty, smart, and laugh-out-loud-funny handbook offers a fresh, new take on romance based on some of civilization’s oldest adages.