The New Cincinnatus

Listening to a podcast on the history of Rome last week I ran across a bit of information totally new to me (of course, most information about ancient Rome is new to me). It was the story of Cincinnatus the Roman Dictator.

A Dictator was an official in the Roman Republic chosen to lead the Romans through a crisis. He was given absolute power, but only temporarily, to do what was necessary in troubled times. There had been Dictators before Cincinnatus, but he was the first who came of age after Rome had thrown off the monarchy and became a republic.

That meant he didn’t have any memory of the tyranny of the last Roman king, which still haunted the older generation of Romans. With no memory of life under a tyrant, Cincinnatus might have been tempted to hold onto power after his dictatorship was over. Instead, he did the right thing.

He was first appointed Dictator after an enemy tribe trapped the Roman army. He mobilized fresh soldiers, rescued the besieged army, and then -- giving up the power of Dictator after only 15 days -- he returned to his farm.

He was 81 years old the second time he was called on to be Dictator. He handled the crisis and again gave up his absolute power, as was his duty, after only 21 days. Because of such strict adherence to the rule of law, Cincinnatus became a role model of Roman civic virtue.

And a role model for America’s Founding Fathers. One of them created the Society of the Cincinnati during the Revolutionary War. The society was made up of officers of George Washington’s Continental Army. Washington himself was the society’s first president, which was fitting, as he was later called “America’s Cincinnatus” because he had refused the role of a king and had voluntarily stepped down as president to return to Mount Vernon. He thus established the American tradition of peaceful transfer of power that the next 43 presidents would faithfully follow – until one didn’t. Can anyone guess who that one was? 

A hint: he’s running for president again while a different president instead agreed to make the difficult decision to step aside for the sake of the country. Some will argue he was forced to do so, and to be sure he was heavily pressured. That said, doing the right thing is still doing the right thing, even if reluctant at first. Thanks, Joe!

Cincinnatus, at Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna. 
Credit: Maclemo