What did the roman poet mean when he said that only two things interested the Roman masses- bread and circuses?

Answer 1

In the Second Punic War, Fabius was the dictator of Rome. He chose to stay inside the walls of Rome to wait out Hannibal's attack, and this continued for ten years. Meanwhile, the farmland was destroyed and the farmers could not make any use out of the lands. The farmers then sold the land to the wealthy people (patricians) for very little money. These rich people used conquered slaves to work these newly bought lands. These massive plantations were called as the latifundia. This put the farmers and the poor people out of work. The slaves were the only people who were productive in the Roman society. To keep the poor, jobless people from rebelling, the government issued the dole and the bread and circuses. The dole was the feeding of the poor. The bread and circuses was entertainment for the poor people (plebians). The poor people were only interested in entertainment, so naturally, they were only interested in the bread and circuses.

Answer 2

It was a typical, Roman uppeer class attitude towards the lower classes. Roman society was strictly divided and classified. The upper clases had no inkling of life in the lower clases or the problems of poverety. They treated lower clas people as inforiors, today we would call this snobbishness, but in Roman times it was an accepted social norm. The phrae was stated as a put down of the lower classes because of their (seemingly) lack of ambition, education, wealth and overall status.