In this witty, and very, very funny little book, a superb source of lost rudeness is at last let loose. . .

Why confine yourself to boring monosyllabic Anglo-Saxon taunts and insults when you can defame, demean, degrade, demolish and damn in the deft language of Cicerco, Martial, Ovid, Cattullus, Horace and others? Now you can impress your friends and devestate your enemies with the filth and wit of your newly-excavated repetoire of classical invective. Usefully arranged in sections for the sexless, gormless, worthless and unscrupulous (etc etc), with special sections on regional taunts and useful threats, the book contains illustrations from classical sources and is immaculately researched by a young Cambridge classics scholar and an expert in the ancient languages of desire and desperation.