Tab. IThomas Couture, Romani aetatis corruptae (MDCCCXLVII).Thomas Couture, Romans of the Decadence (1847).
Mores · SaturaeSociety · Satires
Panem et Circenses, Nunc Domum Allata
Bread and Circuses — Now Delivered to Your Door
Populus qui olim imperia, fasces, legiones dabat, nunc duas tantum res anxius optat — et ne surgere quidem vult ut eas accipiat.
The people who once handed out commands, fasces and legions now anxiously long for just two things — and won’t even get up to collect them.
Qui dabat olim imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat: panem et circenses. Hoc ego de plebe Romana scripsi. Vos autem invenistis quod ne Nero quidem invenit: panem qui ipse ad ianuam venit, et circenses qui in cubiculo spectantur. Plebs iacet, et iacendo regnat.
The people that once bestowed commands, fasces, legions, everything, now holds itself in and anxiously longs for just two things: bread and circuses. I wrote that of the Roman mob. But you have invented what not even Nero managed: bread that comes to the door by itself, and circuses watched from bed. The people lies down, and rules by lying down.
FONTES ANTIQVIANCIENT SOURCES
- Iuv. X.78–81duas tantum res anxius optat, panem et circenses.
FONTES HODIERNITODAY’S SOURCES
- —Haec sententia ex ipsius ingenio, non ex nuntio singulari.This piece reflects on the times rather than a single report.
Res ex fontibus; sententia Romani.Facts from the sources; the opinion is the Roman’s.
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