Who said: “Bread and circuses!” - two millennia ago?

Who said: "Bread and circuses"?Satire Juvenal lived almost two thousand years ago in the Roman Empire. He disdained those who, instead of taking care of their freedom, were interested only in food and entertainment.

The decline of the Roman Empire

The one who said: “Bread and circuses!”- believed that the plebs and the patricians had long ago deviated from the heroic model of behavior, they do not care that their actions are simply criminal in relation to the state, and the actions are most often short-sighted. They are completely satisfied that the Roman legions can only repel the attack of the barbarians, and they do not want to think about what will follow. The one who said: “Bread and circuses!” - he sincerely told about his country.

Предвидел ли он ее горькую участь и полный распад 300 years after his words, it's hard to say. He could hardly have looked so far ahead. He simply had a premonition that in such a situation nothing good could be expected for the country. And he loved his homeland as a true citizen.

The identity of the poet satirist

Details of the author's life winged expressionhistorians know little. Biographers found out that he was born in the town of Aquino and was a student of Quintilian’s rhetoric. Having reached a mature age, he described his modern society with irony in his satires. Rich Rome, which was still quite firmly held, no longer sought conquest and expansion of the empire. The author was sent into exile in Egypt, not only for the words: "The people demand bread and circuses." Whoever said this, he still wrote quite a few satire in which he reflected the morality of his contemporary society, which was kept on the constant influx of slaves, the depravity of the higher strata and the unwillingness to do anything with the lower ones.

All were satisfied with feeding (bribing) with bread, wine and butter of the plebs and organizing free bloody gladiatorial battles with people and wild animals for them.

Popularity of satirical expression

In the time of Nero, the words "bread and circuses" becamejust demanding an angry mob. For her, so that there were no uprisings, food and wine were heard. And then intoxicated people went to circuses and to the arenas, reveling in bloody and merciless battles. They were completely soulless, repulsive, but impressive. At the same time, all the gross and uncouth instincts of the crowd were exposed. The one who said: “Bread and circuses” - witnessed the moral fall of all sectors of society.

The relevance of the statement today

Politics is cynical in its essence.Therefore, the dictum is still relevant: "The people demand bread and circuses." Who said this phrase, did not know that it will remain for millennia. Its author, Decius Junius Juvenal, could not even assume that in two thousand years this slogan would be taken up and implemented into life as a line of conduct by our politicians through the mass of information: movies, television, computer games. Through all the elements that will allow to restrain the indignation of the people of the powerless impoverished existence. A person comes home from work, turns on the TV - and please, any “spiritual food” is poured on him through all channels.

I went out into the street, and there - cinemas in whichfull of horror films and action movies, there are strip clubs that wake the most base in man. Political scientists will come to the aid of politicians, who will speak beautiful speeches and economists, with fervor, without hesitation explaining that the standard of living is steadily increasing. And the people in the jokes will make fun of it all.