Panem et circenses
“Panem et circenses da eis et numquam rebellarbunt”
Give them bread and circuses and they’ll never rebel
“Duas tantrum res anxius optat, Panem et circenses”
They want two things, bread and circuses
Juvenal (Roman satirist ca 100 AD) He was a bitter commentator on Roman
society. You might think of him as the Roman precursor to Babylon Bee.
Often satire illuminates more truth than actual reporting.
“Qu’ils mangent de la brioche”
Let them eat brioche — it comes to us as “let them eat cake”
(Falsely attributed to Marie Antoinette but penned by Jean Jacques Rousseau in his
confessions 1769)
An interesting history here to this quotation which first appeared when she was just a
child in Austria and not really linked to her until after her death by those who despised
her position and placed their frustrations on her.
‘Those that cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’
George Santayana 1905 (with multiple paraphrases)
Hard times create strong men
Strong men create good times
Good times create weak men
Weak men create hard times
G Michael Hopf 2016
Are we at a perilous point in human, particularly western, history?
This is written just after massive rioting in France, starting with protests over school
funding. It escalated over the weekend with Islamic opportunist/terrorists hijacking the
protests to foment mayhem theft and vandalism. I will leave it to those who actually
know more to accurately comment and draw conclusions. Yet is is painfully obvious
France is reaping the results of lax immigration laws and inability/unwillingness (on
both sides) to socially integrate these newcomers. The immigrants don’t want the
society into which they are coming rather they want to impose their social structures
while reaping the benefits of the French welfare system.
America has had its recent upheavals and riots too: Seattle, Kenosha, Minneapolis with
a similar lawlessness after the death of George Floyd. Similar patterns.
Meanwhile way too many in our American society are caught up in the “panem et
circenses” bread and circuses of our day. I do love me some football but I’ve gotten to
thinking about the time I spend watching and following the games, and time wasted
on YouTube shorts. (These are personal time wasters, what are yours?). Diversions can
be refreshing but in moderation. Looking at the time spent on them, the aphorism
proves too true. Give them bread and circuses and they will never rebel, too
preoccupied with the minors. Are we like the frog in the pan of water on the stove?
Couple that now with burgeoning sports gambling and it is a recipe for generational
disaster, ditto smart phones, especially for younger people. Get the teeth of debt into
them, they will divert too much time and energy (work) chasing the fantasy. Is this what
we want for our fellow citizens, is it loving?
Meanwhile ‘let them eat brioche’. A disinterested self consumed element in ruling/
wealthy class is more than willing to lure them into traps that keep them down. Look no
further than payday loan establishments. Then there are power hungry politicians who
promulgate socialism as a panacea for fiscal woes to a disillusioned and numbed
populace, while unassimilated immigrants pour in.
Which leads me back to the quotations/aphorisms with which I began, and I add one
from St Augustine in the opening of his “Confessions”
“You have made us for yourself, O Lord,
and our hearts are restless until they rest in you”
Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it is more than a call to
know our history it is advice to know (and I co-opt here) His Story, though Santayana
didn’t really apply this meaning. That’s right, God had foreknowledge that we are
incapable of self determination.
“there is a way which seemeth right unto a man: but the end thereof are the
ways of death” Proverbs 14:6 KJV
This is more than an aphorism, it is God’s truth. Look at ancient Israel, they had to
have a king, like everybody else. God granted the request but Samuel, God’s prophet,
warned the consequences (see I Samuel 8:10 ff) and they weren’t pretty.
Jesus invites us to live in a heavenly monarchy whatever earthly political structure we
are in. Pilate asked Jesus if he was the king of the Jews
John 18:37-38a
Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?”
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for
this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone
who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?
Humankind has been struggling with or resisting divine truth ever since Adam and Eve
in the garden. The first words out of the devil/serpent’s mouth: “did God say?” have
been sewing doubt and discord ever since.
But Jesus from His very first recorded words offers the way back to a personal garden
like existence in the kingdom of God
Matthew 4:16-17
“the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
on them a light has dawned.”
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying,
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
And Jesus clarified truth:
John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
We live in a world in sore need of these liberating and life altering truths. Weak men
may indeed create hard times but Jesus redeems the time and sets us on the path of
truth.
I don’t want to be lulled into the mindlessness of today’s bread and circuses. Life has
too much to offer, there’s too much at stake and there are too many others who need
to hear truth, whether they are the dulled masses or the invading immigrants with a
different agenda. Shirk not the opportunities and blessings we yet have. We are in a
political season, with wisdom seek that which promotes real human flourishing, take
the time to discuss heavenly truth with those with whom you may have opportunity and
influence. There can be no social justice without real justice. It starts in the
transformed heart.
Strong men create good times, with God”s guidance.
Ephesians 6:10
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
Psalm 50:23
The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
to one who orders his way rightly
I will show the salvation of God!”
David Boyd October 20, 2026
Without a daily purging of self, and then redemptive filling of the Holy Spirit, we skirt
near the danger of being those who “seek their own, not the things which are of Christ
Jesus” (Phil. 2.21). And that is not a good place to be. T M Moore
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