bread and circuses

名词 n.
中文释义
英 /ˈbɹɛd ənd ˈsəː.kəs.əz/|/-iz/    美 /ˈbɹɛd ənd ˈsɚ.kə.səz/|/-kɪ.səz/

英文释义

名词 n.
  1. Food and entertainment provided by the state, particularly if intended to placate the people. idiomatic,plural,plural-only
    — The government of William Ewart Gladstone may not supply the people, as the Roman emperors did, with "bread and circuses," but if giving them plenty to talk about can satisfy a nation, we Britishers ought just now to be very happy. A whole week is never permitted to elapse without some piece of political gaucherie being enacted for the public amusement.
  2. Grand spectacles staged or statements made to distract and pacify people. broadly,plural,plural-only
    — One thing which this study makes evident is that the Welfare State fantasy is usually conjured up by some scheming politician posing as a public benefactor and using "bread and circuses", paid for by the people's own money, to buy the support of the populace.

词源

Calque of Latin panem et circenses, a reference to Satire 10 of the Roman poet Juvenal’s Satires (early 2nd century C.E.). The relevant passage states: “… nam qui dabat olim imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat, panem et circenses” (“[F]or that sovereign people that once gave away military command, consulships, legions, and every thing, now bridles its desires, and limits its anxious longings to two things only,—bread, and the games of the circus!”). Juvenal was commenting that the Roman people no longer cared for political involvement, and were satisfied with cheap food and entertainment provided by politicians.
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