Two thousand years ago, Juvenal characterized Roman society as needing only two things — bread and circuses. For bread, there was the grain dole to all Roman citizens, and for circuses, the gladiator in the Coliseum and the chariot race in Circus Maximus (there were four teams to root for, identified by the colors of their jerseys, white, red, green, and blue). American society isn’t all that different. For food, we have our food stamps and welfare programs, and for circuses, we have televised professional sports where everyone has a home team to root for. Has anything really changed? Juvenal would be right at home in modern America.
Bread and Circuses
Published by Henry Barnard
I am a voracious reader and also enjoy writing. I often have a very different point of view than the popular one. I do see value in debate, and thought it might add to the public debate on controversial issues if I were to express my contrarian opinions. I also started keeping my poems recently (I've written little pieces my whole adult life but never kept any); and I've been a photographer now for over 25 years. So I will be adding an occasional poem and hopefully interesting photograph to the blog along the way, just to spice things up. View all posts by Henry Barnard
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