circuses
copied & pasted:-
Among the Roman authors rescued from oblivion was Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis (ca. 60 A.D. - 140 A.D.), commonly known today as Juvenal. Satire X, lines 77 through 80 of his book, Iuvenalis Saturae (Satires of Juvenal), is the origin of the term, "bread and circuses":
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.
Now that no one buys our votes, the public has long since cast off its cares; the people that once bestowed commands, consulships, legions and all else, now meddles no more and longs eagerly for just two things -- bread and circuses.