The leading citizens were able to exclude masses from politics. Besides fighting foreign wars, the masses could be kept occupied, entertained, with the horrible public displays of savagery that occurred in the Circus. There, the masses were appeased through “bread and circuses,” matches in which people were thrown to fight for their lives against wild beasts; or contests in which gladiators fought to the death or were viciously murdered in front of the crowds, often because of a frivolous gesture by spectators; or displays in which conquered people were killed in the public. The correct answer is C.