Английская Википедия:Bread and circuses
Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:About "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,[1] 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.[2][3][4] The phrase implies a population's erosion or ignorance of civic duty as a priority.[5]
Ancient Rome
This phrase originates from Rome in Satire X of the Roman satirical poet Juvenal (Шаблон:Circa). 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.[6] Шаблон:Verse translation
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
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- "Bread and Circuses" (Star Trek: The Original Series), a 1968 episode of Star Trek
- Шаблон:Annotated link
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- Шаблон:Annotated link
- 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
- Шаблон:Annotated link
- Theatre state - ritual entertainment as the pre-eminent element in a political system
Notes
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
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ Juvenal's literary and cultural influence (Book IV: Satire 10.81)
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ Infoplease Dictionary as pacification or diversion.
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
- ↑ Hirsch, Kett, & Trefil (1993). The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. Houghton Mifflin.
