Peter Jones calls on the ancient Greeks and Romans to cast light on modern problems in this first collection of his columns, which have appeared for over ten years in the Spectator and the Sunday Telegraph . Typical issues on which a light is thrown are women priests, growing old gracefully, how to end strikes, psychotherapy, finding a wife, going on holiday, succeeding in life, ending crime, the purpose of children, why bare feet are bad for sex, the sex-drive of the powerful, the use of alcohol, foretelling the future, and the power of the dead.