Has it always been this way? Give us some bread (panem) and some entertainment (circenses, circuses), and we’ll be happy?
Not everyone, of course, thinks a full belly and distraction are the only avenues to happiness. There are alternatives, and they differ for each of us. Nevertheless, the two words that Juvenal linked together as keys for a Roman emperor to keep his people happy appear to apply to our times. If you are a leader and you want your charges to be happy, at a minimum give them bread and entertainment.
That doesn’t speak much for the temperament of the majority of us—and maybe it doesn’t say anything about the majority of us. But on the surface, bread and entertainment are the extremes of human needs and desires, and many people do seem to be motivated by those two extremes. So, we get the constant advice of “moderation,” of balancing ourselves between need and want.
There is, in fact, a good reason for that balance (as hard as it might be to achieve). Moderation between need and want frees us from manipulation by those who can provide both. Moderation is the mark of an individual under self-control.
It isn’t, of course, a bread of wheat or a circus of dancing elephants that subdues us like the faithful and obedient subjects of an emperor or imperious oligarchy. We need to moderate, also, the “food for thought” that fills our “tables” daily and the manipulation of emotions that motivates us to act in unison.
Bread and entertainment can enslave our minds.
Not everyone, of course, thinks a full belly and distraction are the only avenues to happiness. There are alternatives, and they differ for each of us. Nevertheless, the two words that Juvenal linked together as keys for a Roman emperor to keep his people happy appear to apply to our times. If you are a leader and you want your charges to be happy, at a minimum give them bread and entertainment.
That doesn’t speak much for the temperament of the majority of us—and maybe it doesn’t say anything about the majority of us. But on the surface, bread and entertainment are the extremes of human needs and desires, and many people do seem to be motivated by those two extremes. So, we get the constant advice of “moderation,” of balancing ourselves between need and want.
There is, in fact, a good reason for that balance (as hard as it might be to achieve). Moderation between need and want frees us from manipulation by those who can provide both. Moderation is the mark of an individual under self-control.
It isn’t, of course, a bread of wheat or a circus of dancing elephants that subdues us like the faithful and obedient subjects of an emperor or imperious oligarchy. We need to moderate, also, the “food for thought” that fills our “tables” daily and the manipulation of emotions that motivates us to act in unison.
Bread and entertainment can enslave our minds.
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