Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus

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"Cincinnatus" redirects here. For other uses, see Cincinnatus (disambiguation).
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Cincinnati, Ohio
Bornc. 519 BC
Diedc. 430 BC (aged c. 89)
NationalityRoman
Office
SpouseRacilia
Children
FamilyQuinctia gens
Military service
Battles/warsBattle of Mount Algidus (458 BC)

Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus (c. 519 – c. 430 

Roman virtue—particularly civic virtue
—by the time of the late Republic.

Cincinnatus was an opponent of the rights of the

small farm until an invasion prompted his fellow citizens to call for his leadership. He came from his plough to assume complete control over the state but, upon achieving a swift victory in only 16 days,[1]
relinquished his power and its perquisites and returned to his farm. His success and immediate resignation of his near-absolute authority with the end of this crisis (traditionally dated to 458 BC) has often been cited as an example of outstanding leadership, service to the greater good, civic virtue, humility, and modesty.

Modern historians question some particulars of the story recounted in

suffect consul in 460 BC and as dictator in 458 BC and (possibly) again in 439 BC, when the patricians called on him to suppress the feared uprising of the plebeians under Spurius Maelius
, after which he is said to have once again ceded power.

Life

Cincinnatus
Racilia
1553 French portraits of Cincinnatus and his wife Racilia or Rasilia

According to the traditional accounts, Lucius would have been born about 519 BC,

curly haired".[6] The family was rich.[7]

In the late 460s BC, Rome was fending off

clients, supposedly including Cincinnatus's son Caeso
.

The violent resistance of the patricians prompted

suffect ("replacement") consul for the remainder of the year. Cincinnatus was himself a violent opponent of the plebs' proposal,[9] which made no progress during his administration. His son was supposedly driven from town and killed[9] for his murder of a plebeian.[10] Cincinnatus quit the city and retired to an estate he held to the west of the Tiber.[7]

Cincinnatus served as

Praeneste[12] and Fabius the Delayer's 217 BC rescue of M. Minucius Rufus from Hannibal[13] too great for chance.[14] In one account, Cincinnatus took advantage of his position as dictator to hold a hearing, despite the objections of the tribunes, in which his son's accuser Marcus Volscius was charged with perjury, driving him into exile.[9][b]

During the

decemvirate, he ran unsuccessfully for a position in their government in 450 BC[9][15] but Livy notes his involvement in the discussion about opening the consulship to plebeians.[16]

Possibly, he returned as dictator in 439 BC to defend Rome against the conspiracy the prefect L. Minucius Augurinus alleged Spurius Maelius was plotting against the Republic. When Spurius Maelius ignored his summons, he was killed by Cincinnatus's master of horse and any plot collapsed.[17] Cincinnatus presumably died sometime soon afterwards.[7]

Legend

Son of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus

Schönbrunn Garden

In the traditional accounts of the story, Cincinnatus's son

condemned to death in absentia and his father subjected to a huge punitive fine, forcing him to sell most of his estates and to retire from public life to personally work a small farm[18] (some accounts say Caeso was killed with Poplicola in the recovery of the Capitoline from Herdonius).[7] Modern historians particularly reject the fine as a later invention inserted to explain the dictator's supposed poverty and heighten his virtues.[9][6] Some reject the story in its entirety.[19]

First dictatorship

Juan Antonio Ribera's c. 1806 Cincinnatus Leaves the Plough to Dictate Laws to Rome
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus by Denis Foyatier (1793–1863) Tuileries Garden, Paris
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus by Denis Foyatier (1793–1863) Tuileries Garden, Paris

In 458 BC, the Aequi to Rome's east broke their treaty of the year before and attempted to retake Tusculum (Frascati). The consuls for the year—L. Minucius Esquilinus Augurinus and G. Nautius Rutilus—led out two armies, one to Tusculum's relief and another to strike against the lands of the Aequi and their Sabine allies. Upon reaching Mount Algidus in the Alban Hills, the army under L. Minucius Esquilinus Augurinus encamped and rested instead of immediately attacking. The Aequi quickly deployed around their position and successfully besieged them, with only five horsemen escaping[7] to tell the Roman Senate what had happened. With the army of the second consul unable to help, the senators fell into a panic and authorized the nomination of a dictator. G. Nautius Rutilus or Horatius Pulvillus named Cincinnatus for a term of six months.[20]

A group of senators was sent to Cincinnatus to inform him of his appointment, finding him while he was ploughing his farm.

senatorial toga before hearing the Senate's mandate. He then called out to his wife Racilia, telling her to bring his toga from their cottage.[20] Once he was properly dressed, the delegation hailed him as a dictator and ordered him to come to the city. He crossed the Tiber in one of the senate's boats and was greeted on his return by his three sons and most of the senators. Several lictors
were given to him for protection and enforcement of his orders.

The next morning, Cincinnatus went to the Forum and named Lucius Tarquitius as his master of the horse.[7] He then went to the assembly of the people and ordered every man of military age to appear on the Field of Mars (Campus Martius) by the end of the day[22] with twelve times the normal amount of encamping spikes. They then marched to the relief of the consul's relieving army. At the Battle of Mount Algidus, they used their spikes to quickly besiege the besieging Aequi. Rather than slaughter them between the two Roman camps, Cincinnatus accepted their pleas for mercy and offered an amnesty provided that three principal offenders were executed, and Gracchus Cloelius and their other leaders be delivered to him in chains. A "yoke" of three spears was then set up and the Aequi made to pass under it as an act of submission, bowing and admitting their defeat. Cincinnatus then disbanded his army and returned to his farm, abandoning his control a mere fifteen days after it had been granted to him.[23]

Second dictatorship

Beccafumi's Ahala, Master of the Horse, Presents the Dead Maelius to Cincinnatus, a fresco in Siena's Public Palace

On the nomination of his brother or nephew Titus Quinctius Capitolinus Barbatus, Cincinnatus came out of retirement for a second term as dictator in 439 BC to deal with the feared plot of the wealthy plebeian Spurius Maelius to buy the loyalty of the poor and establish himself as king over Rome. Cincinnatus named C. Servilius Ahala his master of the horse and directed him to bring Spurius Maelius before him. He and the other patricians then garrisoned the Capitoline Hill and other strongholds around the city. Maelius fended off Ahala's officer with a butcher's knife and fled into a crowd. Ahala led a band of patricians into the crowd and killed him during his flight. With the crisis resolved, Cincinnatus again resigned his commission, having served 21 days (Ahala was later brought to trial for exceeding his commission and accepted voluntary exile).

etiological legends and it may have no more connection to the dictator of 458 BC than the fact that the Cincinnatus of 439 BC was a member of the same clan.[24]

Other legends

Cincinnatus became a legend to the Romans. Twice granted supreme power, he held on to it for not a day longer than absolutely necessary. He consistently demonstrated great honour and integrity. The high esteem in which he was held by the later Romans[21] is sometimes extended to his family. One legend from the end of his life claims a Capitolinus defended one of his sons from a charge of military incompetence by asking the jury who would go to tell the aged Cincinnatus the news in the event of a conviction. The son was said to have been acquitted because the jury could not bring itself to break the old man's heart.[citation needed]

Legacy

Cincinnati, the 64th-largest city in the United States[25]
The statue of Cincinnatus in Paris' Tuileries Garden

Many Italian cities have plazas, streets, or other locations named after Cincinnatus (Italian: Cincinnato). The

Cincinnato neighborhood in Anzio
, Italy is named in his honor.

The legend of Cincinnatus's military victory and subsequent relinquishment of power has continued to inspire admiration. It has also been invoked to honor other political leaders, notably George Washington. Washington's relinquishing of control of the Continental Army, refusal to consider establishing a monarchy or assuming monarchical powers, and voluntary retirement after two terms as president to return to his farm at Mount Vernon have made allusions to Cincinnatus common in historical[26] and literary[d] treatments of the era.

The

officers of the Continental Army and Navy and their families, to preserve the ideals of the American Revolution, and to maintain the union of the former colonies. A French Society of the Cincinnati was founded soon afterward by King Louis XVI. Cincinnati, Ohio and Cincinnatus, New York, in the United States, were named in his honor.[25]

Cincinnatus is referenced in Book II, Chapter 1 of Thomas Carlyle's Sartor Resartus.[28] The protagonist of Vladimir Nabokov's Invitation to a Beheading is named Cincinnatus C.[29]

Whistleblower Edward Snowden used the nickname "Cincinnatus" when first contacting journalist Glenn Greenwald.[30]

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson referred to Cincinnatus in his farewell speech outside 10 Downing Street in London on 6 September 2022. Some commentators noted that, while, as Johnson said, Cincinnatus returned to his plough, he was also later recalled to power.[31]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Cicero, apparently mistakenly, places these events in Cincinnatus's second dictatorship.[11]
  2. ^ The accusations against Volscius are sometimes placed in 459 BC and credited to the patricians as a class, rather than to Cincinnatus himself, although this seems to have been a later fabrication.[7]
  3. ^ This story is sometimes told of his election as consul.[21]
  4. ^ For example, in Lord Byron's 1814 "Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte".[27]

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-4628-0465-8
    .
  2. ^ EB (1878), p. 784.
  3. ^ Niebuhr 1828, pp. 291–292.
  4. ^ Livy, History, I, § 30.
  5. ^ DGRB&M (1867), Vol. III, "Qui′ntia Gens".
  6. ^ a b EB (1911).
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j AC (1879).
  8. ^ Forsythe (2006), p. 205.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g DGRB&M (1867), Vol. I, "Cincinna′tus"
  10. ^ EB (1878), p. 748.
  11. ^ Cicero, On Old Age, § 16
  12. ^ Livy, History, VI, §§ 28–29.
  13. ^ Livy, History, §§ 23–30.
  14. ^ Forsythe (2015), p. 319.
  15. ^ Livy, History, III, § 35.
  16. ^ Livy, History, IV, § 6.
  17. ^ Livy, History, IV, §§ 13–15.
  18. ^ Livy, History, III, § 14.
  19. ^ Forsythe (2006), p. 204.
  20. ^ a b Livy, History, III, § 26.
  21. ^ a b NSRW (1914).
  22. ^ Livy, History, III, § 27.
  23. ^ Livy, History, III, §§ 28–29.
  24. ^ Forsythe (2006), p. 240.
  25. ^ a b Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed. (1878), Vol. V, "Cincinnati".
  26. ^ Cramer, Ruby (16 January 2015), "'Team Cincinnatus': Tom Steyer Draws Name from Roman Dictator", BuzzFeed News, New York: Buzzfeed
  27. ^ Byron, George Gordon (1814), Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte, § XIX
  28. ^ Caryle, Thomas (1895). Sartor Resartus The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. H. Althemus. p. 88.
  29. ^ Zunshine, Lisa (2013). Nabokov at the Limits Redrawing Critical Boundaries. Taylor & Francis. p. 109.
  30. OCLC 864356553.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  31. ^ Grierson, Jamie (6 September 2022). "Boris Johnson likens himself to Roman who returned as dictator". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 September 2022.

Sources

Primary sources

Secondary sources

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cincinnatus.
Political offices
Preceded by
Roman consul
460 BC (suffect)
with Gaius Claudius Sabinus Regillensis
 Succeeded by
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