List $17.95

Written by Ovid - Translated by Jack Shapiro - Performed by Martin Jarvis - Abridged Nonfiction - 2 CASSETTES - 3 hours

Publisher, Audio Partners (1998)

Classic Rules of Seduction

A 2000 year-old self-help guide!

Considered the most important and enduring work in all the world's literature on the basic psychology of male and female sexual behavior.

"Ovid influences everyone!" --Los Angeles Times

Join accomplished lovers throughout the ages who have boasted, "Ovid was my teacher."

"If you are a girl or man who does not know the art of loving, you will learn how to love by hearing this book. It takes art to steer boats easily with sail and oar; it takes art to drive chariots smoothly; it takes art also to guide love."

So begins Ovid's 2000-year-old version of The Rules -- OVID'S ART OF LOVE : CLASSIC RULES OF SEDUCTION. With poetic wit and sophistication, Ovid uses case studies from mythology to illustrate practical techniques for Seducing a Woman and Holding a Man. Many of these 2,000-year-old Rules of seduction ring true today! This prose translation is a detailed portrait of Roman social life ... though listeners will discover many parallels with modern life.

Often called the world's first psychologist of love and sexual behavior, Ovid influenced many people throughout history. He was Chaucer's favorite poet. He showed up in Shakespeare's first poem, Venus and Adonis, and in A Midsummer's Night's Dream. Joseph Campbell, Edith Hamilton, and Thomas Bulfinch all cite his importance in relating the stories of classical mythology. His understanding of male and female sexual psychology also influenced Havelock Ellis, Alfred Kinsey, and Sigmund Freud. Despite Ovid's influence and notoriety, his translated works were banned in the United States until 1960 when courts relaxed their censorship of sexually oriented literature.

Does Ovid's enduring ART OF LOVE have any relevance now ... 2,000 years after it was written? Considering how little human nature seems to have changed over the years, this guide to courtship and romance is much more than a fascinating document of history -- it is a manual to be heard and then put into practice. Join accomplished lovers throughout the ages who have boasted, "Ovid was my teacher!"

Publius Ovidius Naso, known as Ovid, was a great Roman classical poet who wrote THE ART OF LOVE and published it about the time of the birth of Jesus, c. 1 BC. According to the introduction, Ovid was a sophisticated man of genius, witty and wise, who devoted his life to studying and writing about sexual love. He wrote these books for the single man and woman, to inform, enlighten, and entertain them on the subject in all its aspects. Truly Ovid can be called the world's first and foremost psychologist of love and sexual behavior. Ovid is perhaps best known for his METAMORPHOSES.

Jack Shapiro, the translator, was a Los Angeles-based writer/researcher who identified personally with the teachings of Ovid. He devoted the last fifteen years of his life to his original prose translation (others have been in verse).

A highly-recognized voice talent, Martin Jarvis, the reader, was named by the British Spoken Word Association as the Reader of the Year in 1996. He is a professional actor and recently appeared in the film, TITANIC, and was the voice on The Audio Partners' publication of A Night to Remember.