These spectacles continued each day from sunrise
to sunset; the spectators ate their lunch in their places. This was a
means used by the emperors for the occupation of the crowd. "It is for
your advantage, Caesar," said an actor to Augustus, "that the people
engage itself with us." It was also a means for securing popularity.
The worst emperors were among the most popular; Nero was adored for
his magnificent spectacles; the people refused to believe that he was
dead, and for thirty years they awaited his return.[146]
The multitude of Rome no longer sought to govern; it required only to
be amused and fed: in the forceful expression of Juvenal--to be
provided with bread and the games of the circus (panem et circenses).
=The Praetorians.=--Under the republic a general was prohibited from
leading his army into the city of Rome. The emperor, chief of all the
armies, had at Rome his military escort (praetorium), a body of about
10,000 men quartered in the interior of the city. The praetorians,
recruited among the veterans, received high pay and frequent
donatives. Relying on these soldiers, the emperor had nothing to fear
from malcontents in Rome.
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