Empire & the Arena

Emperors, spectacle, and the machinery of keeping a city entertained.

• bread and circuses IDIOM Food and entertainment handed out by those in power to keep the public quiet. Juvenal's complaint.
• circus WORD a show with performers like clowns and acrobats, or a place where many streets meet; it can also describe a very busy or chaotic situation. The Circus Maximus.
• a Roman holiday IDIOM Enjoyment taken from watching somebody else suffer. Byron on the Dying Gaul.
• fiddle while Rome burns IDIOM To busy yourself with trivia while a disaster you could be addressing unfolds. Nero and the fire of AD 64.
• Triumph WORD a great victory or a very successful result. You use this word when someone wins something difficult or achieves a big goal. The victory parade.
• Laurel WORD an evergreen tree with shiny leaves that people used to make crowns for winners in ancient times. Today, it is often used to talk about honor or success. The victor's wreath.
• rest on one's laurels IDIOM To rely on past success and stop making the effort to keep improving. What the wreath came to mean.
• to the victor belong the spoils IDIOM Whoever wins gets to take everything that comes with winning. The plunder in the parade.
• purple WORD a colour made by mixing red and blue; it is also used to describe royal power or very fancy writing. The dye reserved for emperors.
• wear the purple IDIOM To hold supreme power, or to be born into the family that holds it. Holding the office itself.