I always interpreted panem et circenses as a short-hand for “keep your people fed and happily distracted” rather than literally using bread and circuses to distract them.
I mean, you are less likely to change a status quo if you aren’t hurting for anything and/or have the ability to drown the hurt you do have in simple, easy distraction.
Certainly the modern usage! But the phrase originated with the Roman satirist Juvenal, who meant it both in the metaphorical sense, and in the literal sense - funding free bread and public spectacles were major expenses of Roman Emperors.
I always interpreted panem et circenses as a short-hand for “keep your people fed and happily distracted” rather than literally using bread and circuses to distract them.
I mean, you are less likely to change a status quo if you aren’t hurting for anything and/or have the ability to drown the hurt you do have in simple, easy distraction.
Certainly the modern usage! But the phrase originated with the Roman satirist Juvenal, who meant it both in the metaphorical sense, and in the literal sense - funding free bread and public spectacles were major expenses of Roman Emperors.