The Art of Love is an instructional text on the subject of love written by the ancient poet Ovid. The first two books aim to teach men how to find and keep a woman. The Third book gives advice to women win the love of a man, and keep it. Ovid was born into the Roman aristocracy nearing the end of a great period of turmoil and civil war, and grew up in the golden age ushered in by Emperor Augustus. He was contemporaries with other great Roman poets Virgil and Horace. Later in his life he offended Emperor Augustus and was banished for life to an island in the Black Sea.