Cincinnātus, L.
Quinctius
A Roman patrician, whose name belongs to the earlier history of the Republic, and has a
well-known and spiritstirring legend connected with it. His son, Caeso Quinctius, had been
banished on account of his violent language towards the tribunes, and the father had retired
to his own patrimony, aloof from popular tumults. The successes of the Aequi and Volsci in
B.C. 458 rendered the appointment of a dictator necessary, and Cincinnatus was chosen to that
high office. The delegates who were sent to announce this to him found the Roman noble
ploughing his own fields, and from the plough he was transferred to the highest magistracy of
his native State. The dictator laid aside his rural habiliments, assumed the ensigns of
absolute power, levied a new army, marched all night to bring the necessary succour to the
consul Minucius, who was surrounded by the enemy and blockaded in his camp, and before morning
surrounded the enemy's army, and reduced it to a condition exactly similar to that in which
the Romans had been placed. The baffled Aequi were glad to submit to the victor's terms; and
Cincinnatus, thereupon returning in triumph to Rome, laid down his dictatorial power, after
having held it only fourteen days, and returned to his farm. At an advanced age he was again
appointed dictator, to restrain the power of Spurius
Maelius (q.v.), and again proved himself the deliverer of his country (Val. Max. iv.
4, 7;
Liv.iii. 26).
