bread and circuses
Food and entertainment handed out by those in power to keep the public quiet.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“Free tickets and a firework display — bread and circuses.”
“Critics called the new stadium bread and circuses, built with money that had been promised to the hospitals.”
“The budget offered bread and circuses in generous measure — a fuel rebate, a national holiday, a televised tournament — and said almost nothing about the structural deficit that had made all three necessary.”
The phrase is Juvenal's, from the tenth of his Satires, written around AD 100. The Roman people, he complains, once handed out military commands and high office; now they have sold their votes and want only two things — panem et circenses, bread and circus games.
Both halves were real policy. The grain dole fed a large share of the city at public expense, and the games at the Circus Maximus ran for days at a time, paid for by whoever wanted the crowd's goodwill. Juvenal's point was not that these were bad in themselves but that a public content with them had stopped asking for anything else. The circenses, incidentally, were chariot races, not anything involving a big top.
Bread and circuses in English is a charge, always: it says a government is buying quiet with distraction, and that the public is letting it.
- 01
a little bit of bread and no cheese
Used to represent the song of the yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella).
- 02
best thing since sliced bread
Alternative form of greatest thing since sliced bread.
- 03
bread and butter
That which is central or fundamental, as to one's business, survival, or income; a staple or cornerstone.
- 04
bread of life
Anything which is regarded as a source or inspiration of spiritual nourishment.
- 05
brown bread
Dead.
- 06
burn bread
To cause something unfortunate to happen to (someone) by mentioning it; to jinx something for (someone).
- 07
butter one's bread on both sides
To profit from two things at the same time, especially when those things seem contradictory or incompatible.
- 08
cast one's bread upon the waters
To perform a kind deed or favor without the motivation of any immediate reward or benefit to oneself, though with the possibility of eventual future return.
Emperors, spectacle, and the machinery of keeping a city entertained.
- 01
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.
- 02
a Roman holiday (idiom)
Enjoyment taken from watching somebody else suffer.
Byron on the Dying Gaul.
- 03
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.
- 04
triumph (word)
a great success or victory after a lot of hard work; as a verb, it means to win or succeed against something difficult.
The victory parade.
- 05
laurel (word)
a type of evergreen tree with shiny leaves, often used as a symbol of success or victory.
The victor's wreath.
- 06
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.
Last updated August 10, 2026