Michael Fontaine

Books⁵

How to Have Willpower: An Ancient Guide to Not Giving In Prudentius and Plutarch
Lively new translations of two classical works that offer wise advice about how to resist temptation
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How to Get Over a Breakup: An Ancient Guide to Moving On Ovid
A modern translation of the ancient Roman poet Ovid’s Remedies for Love—a witty and irreverent work about how to fall out of love
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How to Grieve: An Ancient Guide to the Lost Art of Consolation Marcus Tullius Cicero
An engaging new translation of a timeless masterpiece about coping with the death of a loved one
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How to Tell a Joke: An Ancient Guide to the Art of Humor Marcus Tullius Cicero
Timeless advice about how to use humor to win over any audience
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How to Drink: A Classical Guide to the Art of Imbibing Vincent Obsopoeus
A spirited new translation of a forgotten classic, shot through with timeless wisdom
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Ideas²

On consolation, grief, and coping, and heaven Psychotherapy is not a recent invention. Thousands of years before Freud, Greek thinkers had discovered the seemingly magical effects that words can have to soothe the mind. Read More

How to drink
(at home) Is there an art to drinking alcohol? Can drinking ever be a virtue? The Renaissance humanist and neoclassical poet Vincent Obsopoeus (ca. 1498–1539) thought so. Read More