Resembling the Kama Sutra, Ovid's compilation The Art of Love was written in three volumes. Book I is addressed to men and concerned with the wooing of a woman. Using various techniques, he tells men how to comport themselves in a way to be desirable to women. Basically, he says that you have to be a person that you'd want to love in order to attract a lover. Aside from basic attraction, Ovid discusses good places to meet women such as the theater.
Book II is concerned with keeping a woman satisfied. Here, Ovid starts to flirt with some racy topics. He counsels men on sex, stoking the flame of passion, manners, and thoughtfulness. From dinner parties to bed, he covers the various situations which couples generally find themselves facing. The perspective he insists is necessary is one of military strictness, obeying and remaining faithful to your girl. Maintaining decorum, he concludes the book with a fairly detailed overview of sex: various positions, techniques, and admonishment to try to orgasm together.
Written some time after the first two, Book III is addressed to the ladies. Ovid advises them in all the same matters covered in the first two books, but this time he approaches it from the opposite perspective. The woman's one and only job is to keep her lover interested. To accomplish this, she shouldn't devote all of her attention to pleasing him but instead create situations in which he becomes jealous and stays focused on her. She should, however, always stay faithful to him, merely creating the illusion of a circumstance deserving his jealousy. Again, Ovid concludes with an overview of sex from her end. For the time period, he challenges some commonly-held gender roles.
