Son of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus of Cincinnatus in
Vienna's
Schönbrunn Garden In the traditional accounts of the story, Cincinnatus's son
Caeso was an openly violent opponent of the attempts of the plebeians to enact the Terentilian Law, which sought to codify the Roman legal tradition and circumscribe the authority of the patrician consuls. Caeso would lead gangs to drive the
Tribunes of the Plebs from the
Forum, disrupting the procedures necessary to approve it. He was brought up on capital charges in 461BC but released on a large
bail. A plebeian named Marcus Volscius testified that his brother, while feeble from sickness, had been knocked down and injured by Caeso with such force that he later died. Rather than face his accusers in court, Caeso fled to the
Etruscans. He was then
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 (some accounts say Caeso was killed with Poplicola in the recovery of the Capitoline from Herdonius). Modern historians particularly reject the fine as a later invention inserted to explain the dictator's supposed poverty and heighten his virtues. Some reject the story in its entirety.
First dictatorship 's
Cincinnatus Leaves the Plough to Dictate Laws to Rome (1793–1863)
Tuileries Garden,
Paris In 458BC, 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 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. A group of senators was sent to Cincinnatus to inform him of his appointment, finding him ploughing his farm. He asked them, "Is everything all right?" and they replied that they hoped "it might turn out well for both him and his country", asking that he don his
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. 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. He was given several
lictors 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. 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 with twelve times the normal number 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.
Second dictatorship '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 439BC 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). Various aspects of the story are connected with spurious
etiological legends and it may have no more connection to the dictator of 458BC than the fact that the Cincinnatus of 439BC was a member of the same clan.
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 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. ==Legacy==