bread and circuses

Roman poet Juvenal coined the phrase “bread and circuses” nearly 2,000 years ago for the extravagant entertainment the Roman Empire used to distract attention from imperial policies that caused widespread discontent.

My second takeaway is that bread and circuses — the Roman phrase for distracting the populace with spectacle — was in full force.

The context might be different, depending on, say, whether the audience is living in a republic or an empire, but the basics will remain the same: sex and violence, swords and sandals, bread and circuses, the decadent rich and the honest poor.

Instead, at the end of the day, as the world spins out of control, people want bread and circuses to keep them from contemplating the horrors that we ourselves have created.

So McCarthy has adapted the Roman emperors’ palliative for the potentially mutinous mob: Give the people bread and circuses.