Shakespeare's friend and rival, Ben Jonson, shows off his classical learning and comic brilliance at the same time with a satire about the Roman poets. Lovesick Ovid and honest Horace are the heroes, with a pack of liars, slanderers, and terrible amateur poets (or "poetasters") as the villains. This play isn't as popular as Jonson's best known works, like _Volpone_ and _The Alchemist_, but there aren't many playwrights who can get laughs from both literary criticism and from vomiting, let alone get laughs from both at the same time. Jonson can. If you like Shakespeare's grittier works (say, _Troilus and Cressida_) or the comedies of Thomas Middleton, this is definitely for you.