Philosophy:Bread and circuses

Short description: Figure of speech referring to a superficial means of appeasement

"Bread and circuses" (or bread and games; from Latin: panem et circenses) is a metonymic phrase referring to superficial appeasement. It is attributed to Juvenal (Satires, Satire X), a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century AD, and is used commonly in cultural, particularly political, contexts.

In a political context, the phrase means to generate public approval, not by excellence in public service or public policy, but by diversion, distraction, or by satisfying the most immediate or base requirements of a populace, by offering a palliative: for example food (bread) or entertainment (circuses).

Juvenal originally used it to decry the "selfishness" of common people and their neglect of wider concerns. The phrase implies a population's erosion or ignorance of civic duty as a priority.

Ancient Rome

This phrase originates from Rome in Satire X of the Roman satirical poet Juvenal (c. 100 AD). In context, the Latin panem et circenses (bread and circuses) identifies the only remaining interest of a Roman populace that no longer cares for its historical birthright of political involvement. Here Juvenal displays his contempt for the declining heroism of contemporary Romans, using a range of different themes, including lust for power and desire for old age to illustrate his argument.

[...] iam pridem, ex quo suffragia nulli / vendimus, effudit curas; nam qui dabat olim / imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se / continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat, / panem et circenses. [...]

... Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.

—Juvenal, Satire 10.77–81

Juvenal here makes reference to the Roman practice of providing free wheat to Roman citizens as well as costly circus games and other forms of entertainment as a means of gaining political power. The Annona (grain dole) was begun under the instigation of the aristocratic popularis politician Gaius Sempronius Gracchus in 123 BC; it remained an object of political contention until it was taken under the control of the autocratic Roman emperors.

See also

• "Bread and Circuses" (Star Trek: The Original Series), a 1968 episode of Star Trek
• Biology:Colosseum – Ancient Roman amphitheatre, a landmark of Rome, Italy
• Idiot/idiocy (Athenian democracy) – Person of low intelligence
• Social:Instrumentum regni – Exploitation of religion by State or ecclesiastical polity as a means of controlling the masses
• List of Latin phrases
• Panem, the setting of the young adult book series The Hunger Games and its film adaptations
• Prolefeed, fictional language in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four
• Theatre state - ritual entertainment as the pre-eminent element in a political system

Sources

• Potter, D. and D. Mattingly, Life, Death, and Entertainment in the Roman Empire. Ann Arbor (1999).
• Rickman, G., The Corn Supply of Ancient Rome Oxford (1980).

Further reading

• Juvenal's 16 "Satires" in Latin, at The Latin Library
• Juvenal's first 3 "Satires" in English