Bread and circuses

For other uses, see the phrase.

Bread and circuses is a derogatory phrase which can describe either government policies to pacify the citizenry, or the shallow, decadent desires of that same citizenry. In both cases, it refers to low-cost, low-quality, high-availability food and entertainment, and to the exclusion of things which the speaker considers more important, such as art, public works projects, democracy, or human rights.

It originated as the Latin phrase "panem et circenses" (literally "bread and circuses"), and is thought to have been coined by Juvenal, a Roman satiric poet of the 1st century AD, to describe the practice of Roman Emperors who gave unlimited free wheat to the poor and costly circus games as a means of pacifying the populace with food and entertainment. Juvenal bemoaned that it was a deplorable apathy towards heroism.

In fact, after Juvenal's time, the system of free or heavily subsidized food distribution was limited to a minority of Roman Citizens holding a special token (tessera) entitling them to a monthly supply of grain and olive oil from the reign of Septimus Severus. The rations were probably too small to feed a family and the receivers were not necessarily poor or in need of free food. This does not change the fact that the food supply to a city the size of Rome was of primary concern to the emperors in order to avoid popular unrest.

Modern references

Politics

• A variant, "Bread and Roses", was a slogan used during the Lawrence textile strike and later a song.

The arts

• The theater troupe Bread & Puppet performs giant puppet circuses that are followed by the serving of sourdough rye bread.

In popular music

• In 1960s Brazil, the term was used in the title of the manifesto album of the musical-political Tropicalismo movement, Tropicália ou Panis et Circensis, which contains the alternately-spelled title track "Panis et Circenses" by Os Mutantes.
• Billy Bragg recorded a song called "Bread and Circuses" with Natalie Merchant in 1991.
• It was also a song title by the politically minded band "Million Dead" on their 2005 album "Harmony No Harmony" shorty released before they split.

In Television

• During the second season of Star Trek: The Original Series, is an episode entitled "Bread and Circuses", originally aired on March 16, 1968, production number 43, Stardate: 4040.7.