The exact words
“iam pridem, ex quo suffragia nulli uendimus, effudit curas; nam qui dabat olim imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat, panem et circenses.”Juvenal, Satire 10.77–81 (“Long ago, since we stopped selling our votes, the people have shed their cares; the people that once handed out command, consulships, legions, everything, now holds itself back and anxiously longs for just two things: bread and circus games.”)
✓ VerifiedFound in a primary source: the original book, speech transcript, letter or recording.
What people get wrong
Common reading
A cynical plan by emperors to drug the masses with sport.
A cynical plan by emperors to drug the masses with sport.
Closer to the original
Juvenal's target is the people as much as the rulers. His complaint is that Roman citizens gave up caring about government once they stopped being able to sell their votes, and now ask for nothing but food and races. The “circuses” are chariot races at the Circus, not clowns.
Juvenal's target is the people as much as the rulers. His complaint is that Roman citizens gave up caring about government once they stopped being able to sell their votes, and now ask for nothing but food and races. The “circuses” are chariot races at the Circus, not clowns.
Timeline
- 123 BC onwardRome begins handing out cheap, and later free, grain to its citizens. Politicians also fund lavish chariot races and gladiator shows to win popularity.
- c. AD 100–127The satirist Juvenal, writing under emperors who no longer let the people choose their leaders, mocks Romans for trading their political power for the grain dole and the races at the Circus Maximus.
- Today“Bread and circuses” is used for any distraction, from sports spectacles to celebrity news, that keeps the public from paying attention to politics.
Use it in a speech
Juvenal's sneer that the Roman people, once rulers of an empire, now wanted only “bread and circuses” was aimed less at their emperors than at themselves.
~8 secondsto say aloud
Pausenone needed in writing
Best spotopening hook
Questions people ask
What does “panem et circenses” mean?
“Bread and circus games.” It describes keeping the public content with food and entertainment instead of real political power.
Who said “bread and circuses”?
The Roman satirist Juvenal, in Satire 10, written in the early second century AD.
What were the “circuses”?
Chariot races and other shows held at the Circus Maximus, Rome's huge racetrack.
Cite this quote
These cite the original text directly, so you can use them in an essay or paper. Always check your teacher's required style.
MLAJuvenal. “Satire 10.” Line 81. c. AD 100–127. The Latin Library, www.thelatinlibrary.com/juvenal/10.shtml.
APAJuvenal. (110). Satire 10. The Latin Library. https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/juvenal/10.shtml
CHICAGOJuvenal, “Satire 10,” Line 81, c. AD 100–127.
IN TEXT (APA)(Juvenal, 110)