Thorstein Veblen
Panem et Circenses.
Editorial
"DIAL. A Fortnightly", (New York: The Dial Publishing Company, Inc.)
Vol. LXVI (Dec., 28, 1918, to June, 28, 1919)
June 14, 1919, p. 609.
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PANEM ET CIRCENSES was the formula for the politicians of Imperial Rome, on 
which they relied to keep the underlying population from imagining vain 
remedies for their own hard case. Mutatis mutandis, in the vernacular of the 
twentieth century, this would be as much as to say, " The Bread Line and the 
Movies." This is not a literal translation of the Latin motto. It amounts to 
an equivalence of practice rather than an equivalence of words panis, of 
course, is Latin for " bread " rather than " the bread line" ; and the 
nearest modern equivalent for circenses would perhaps be "the ballfield" 
rather than " the movies." But then, as the Romans would say, tempora 
mutantur.

Panis, of course signifies " bread " a product of the baker's art, rather 
than the breadline, which is a product of the associated charities. But in 
effect, as it comes into this Imperial Roman motto, panem signified that 
certain salutary minimum of bread without which the underlying population 
could not be counted on to tolerate the continued rule of the Imperial 
politicians and of those vested interests that were entrusted to the care of 
the politicians. So it appears that the politicians of Imperial Rome allowed 
the underlying population a ration of actual bread, at some cost to the 
vested interests. It appears that the astute politicians of Imperial Rome 
dared go no nearer to the modern democratic institution of the bread line. To 
those democratic statesmen who now bear up the banners of the vested 
interests also called the standards of Law and Order this prodigal conduct of 
the Roman politicians will perhaps seem weak and little-minded. But something 
is to be allowed in extenuation of their pusillanimity. The politicians of 
Imperial Rome had not the use of liberty loans and machine guns; and then the 
underlying population of that cruder age was perhaps less patient and 
reasonable, less given to promises and procrastination. Tempora mutantur. The 
democratic statesmen of the twentieth century are more fortunate in both 
respects. More particularly, the mechanical appliances for preserving law and 
order have been greatly perfected ; and by suitable fiscal methods the 
underlying population which is to be " kept in hand " can be induced to pay 
for these mechanical appliances by which they are to be kept in hand. So the 
statesmen of the twentieth century are enabled to let the bread line serve in 
place of the bread, and thereby to save the net output of the Republic's 
industry more nearly intact for the use of the kept classes. 

But in the matter of circenses, too, there has been change and improvement 
during these intervening centuries since the Glory that was Rome. Political 
practice runs on a more economical plan in this businesslike age. The Roman 
circenses appear to have cut somewhat wastefully into the ordinary " earnings 
" of those vested interests for whose benefit the Roman Imperium was 
administered; whereas the movies of the twentieth century are a business 
proposition in their own right, a source of " earnings " and a vested 
interest. And in ordinary times of peace or war the movies supply what 
appears to be required in the way of politically salutary dissipation. Yet in 
time of stress, as is now evident, something more enticing may be required to 
distract popular attention securely and keep the underlying population from 
taking stock of the statemen's promises and performance. At a critical 
juncture, when large chances of profit and loss for the vested interests are 
in the balance, it may be well to take thought and add something to the 
workday routine of the movies, even at some expense. In case of urgent need, 
to stabilise a doubtfully manageable popular sentiment, the rant and swagger 
of many subsidised heroes and the pomp and circumstance and moving show 
incident to a victory loan should have a salutary use of the same kind; 
expensive, no doubt, but then the cost need not be borne by those vested 
interests that are to be safeguarded from the corrosive afterthought of the 
underlying population. And then there are available such heroic spectacles as 
a " victory fleet," together with parades, arches, and banners, miles of 
banners and square miles of heroic printed matter; costly, no doubt, but also 
doubtless salutary. So also, in -case of need there is something to be made 
of such a thing as an overseas flight; particularly if it be abundantly 
staged and somewhat more than abundantly advertised. It is a potent resource, 
capable of lifting the common man's afterthought into the upper air, instead 
of letting it run along the ground of material fact, where it might do 
mischief ; costly, no doubt, but then the cost need not be counted so 
closely, since it is the common man who pays the cost, the same common man 
who is forever in danger of getting into mischief by reflecting unduly on 
what the statesmen have been using him for. And, of course, since it is the 
common man who is to be relieved of afterthought, it is only reasonable that 
the common man should pay the cost.

Panem et circenses: The Breadline and the Movies.
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