Panem et Circenses, aka Bread and Circuses, Bread and Races, Bread and Games.Where did this famous maxim come from and what does it really mean? Let's find o...
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).
It is attributed to Juvenal (Satires, Satire X), a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century CE.
tldw:
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).
It is attributed to Juvenal (Satires, Satire X), a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century CE.