panem et circenses and divide et impera
Saturday, 18 January 2025 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: Around the World / Rund um die WeltCategory/Kategorie: General Reading Time: 7 minutes

Portrait of Juvenal from the ‘Nuremberg Chronicle’, late 1400s © Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff
Bread and circuses (or bread and games; from Latin: panem et circenses) is a metonymic phrase referring to superficial appeasement. It is attributed to Juvenal (Satires, Satire X), a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century AD, and is used commonly in cultural, particularly political, contexts.
In a political context, the phrase means to generate public approval, not by excellence in public service or public policy, but by diversion, distraction, or by satisfying the most immediate or base requirements of a populace, by offering a palliative: for example food (bread) or entertainment (circuses). Juvenal originally used it to decry the “selfishness” of common people and their neglect of wider concerns. The phrase implies a population’s erosion or ignorance of civic duty as a priority.
This phrase originates from Rome in Satire X of the Roman satirical poet Juvenal (c. 100 AD), who saw “bread and circuses” (panem et circenses) as emblematic of the loss of republican political liberty:
[…] iam pridem, ex quo suffragia nulli / vendimus, effudit curas; nam qui dabat olim / imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se / continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat, / panem et circenses. […] |
… Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses. |
—Juvenal, Satire 10.77–81 |
Juvenal refers to the Roman practice of providing free wheat to Roman citizens (the Annona) as well as costly circus games and other forms of entertainment as a means of gaining political power. In much modern literature, this represents the Annona as a “briberous and corrupting attempt of the Roman emperors to cover up the fact that they were selfish and incompetent tyrants”. Yet Augustus disapproved even the idea of a grain dole on moral grounds, even though he and every emperor after him took the responsibility and credit for ensuring the supply to citizens who qualified for it (Cura Annonae).
Read more on Wikipedia panem et circenses.
Divide and rule (Latin: divide et impera), or more commonly known as divide and conquer, in politics refers to an entity gaining and maintaining political power by using divisive measures. This includes the exploitation of existing divisions within a political group by its political opponents, and also the deliberate creation or strengthening of such divisions.
The phrase divide and conquer (from the latin divide et impera) first appeared in English around 1600.
The strategy of division and rule has been attributed to sovereigns, ranging from Louis XI of France to the House of Habsburg. Edward Coke denounces it in Chapter I of the Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England, reporting that when it was demanded by the Lords and Commons what might be a principal motive for them to have good success in Parliament, it was answered: “Eritis insuperabiles, si fueritis inseparabiles. Explosum est illud diverbium: Divide, & impera, cum radix & vertex imperii in obedientium consensu rata sunt.” (“You would be invincible if you were inseparable. This proverb, Divide and rule, has been rejected, since the root and the summit of authority are confirmed by the consent of the subjects.”)
In a minor variation, Sir Francis Bacon wrote the phrase as separa et impera in a letter to James I of 15 February 1615. James Madison made this recommendation in a letter to Thomas Jefferson of 24 October 1787, which summarized the thesis of Federalist No. 10: “Divide et impera, the reprobated axiom of tyranny, is under certain (some) qualifications, the only policy, by which a republic can be administered on just principles.”
Divide et impera is the third of three political maxims in Immanuel Kant‘s Perpetual Peace (1795), Appendix I, the others being Fac et excusa (“Act now, and make excuses later”) and Si fecisti, nega (“If you commit a crime, deny it”): Kant refers this tactic when describing the traits of a “political moralist.”
In politics, the concept refers to a strategy that breaks up existing power structures, and especially prevents smaller power groups from linking up, causing rivalries and fomenting discord among the people to prevent a rebellion against the elites or the people implementing the strategy. The goal is either to pit the lower classes against themselves to prevent a revolution, or to provide a desired solution to the growing discord that strengthens the power of the elites. The principle “divide et impera” is cited as a common in politics by Traiano Boccalini in La bilancia politica.
In economics, the concept is also mentioned as a strategy for market segmentation to get the most out of the players in a competitive market.
Read more on Wikipedia divide et impera (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.
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