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

Nothing Is New Under The Sun

A couple little books that have often occupied my nightstand (my dusty nightstand) for at least twenty years or more are Colin McEvedy’s history atlases, published by Penguin Books. I have read (and often re-read -- I have trouble retaining information, it seems) these brief summaries of Western history accompanied by simple maps that help to illustrate the constantly shifting geopolitical jigsaw puzzle of Europe from the Stone Age to the times of Napoleon. 

Every so often reading about the complicated history of Europe, I run across a passage describing long-forgotten leaders or world events that, well, seem to resonate with  leaders and world events of 2019. 

Here is one such passage from McEvedy’s “The Penguin Atlas of Modern History” describing Louis XI, King of France from 1461 – 1483. 

“Because he was both treacherous and successful, his admirers have called him Machiavellian, but his intellectual abilities were strictly limited, his natural impulsiveness poorly controlled and his qualities, good and bad, really those of a peasant. His strongest suit was tenacity, and the only modern quality of this otherwise credulous mind was a recognition that money was the measure of power.” 

Sound familiar? I highlighted the parts that reminded me of the current, and thankfully momentary, leader of the US. Notice, I didn’t highlight “successful”. 

Another such passage concerns Nero, the last of the Julio-Claudian dynasty of Roman emperors. Nero’s reign (AD 54 - 68) suffered from thorny conflicts in Britain and Palestine and a disastrous fire in Rome (the folk-legend of which has Nero blithely fiddling away while the flames raged). But, apparently, beyond these calamities Nero had personal shortcomings that meant he was not up to the job of Emperor. 

“His position," according to McEvedy, "required of him little more than the appearance of gravity, yet this was a role that Nero, the self-declared actor, was never able to sustain.” Again, sound familiar? 

After various missteps of mismanagement by Nero, the Roman governor of Spain had had enough and marched on Rome. With the tide turning against him, even his Praetorian Guards would not defend Nero, and he had no choice but to die, in McEvedy’s words, “by his own shaky hand”.  

Of course, throughout history, violence has often been the method of unseating unsuitable and unpopular rulers. The Founding Fathers of the United States, throwing off the legacy of undemocratic monarchies, devised a more civilized and humane way of replacing such leaders who are, without question, wholly corrupt and unfit for their high office. And that method is impeachment. 

I’m beginning to wonder, why on Earth, are we not using that civilized and humane method today?