AMERICAN IMAGE
Interstate Highway Passing Through Camp Pendleton Marine Base, 1975. Environmental Protection Agency photograph in the collection of the National Archives Administration.
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Panem et circenses
"Duas tantum res anxius optat--Panem et circenses"
--Juvenal (Roman poet, circa 60-140, writing in Satire X)
WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PHRASE "BREAD AND CIRCUS"?
In ancient Rome, political elites frequently distributed food (such as wheat) and funded lavish spectacles for the inhabitants. The provision of what Juvenal called "bread and circuses" is thought to have been an important element in placating the masses. The elites also seem to have thought of it as an important part of their civic duty.
A sophisticated discussion of the subject can be found in Paul Veyne's book Le pain et le cirque, which is available in English translation as well as in its original French edition.
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