Cincinnatus

The Roman statesman Cincinnatus is someone in history that most Americans have heard of, even if we didn’t know that we have. The lovely city of Cincinnati (shout out to skyline chili), in the not so lovely state of Ohio, is named in his honor. Like myself, you may be asking “why is there a city named after Cincinnatus in a country that was founded 2200 years after his death?” Well, read on and it’ll be explained - or don’t, do what you want.

Cincinnatus lived from c.519 BCE to 430 BCE in or around Latium and was from a rich Patrician family that had roots dating to the Roman Kingdom. At the time of Cincinnatus, there were both external and internal threats to Rome’s early Republic. The Romans had expelled the Etruscans to form that Republic thus ending the Roman Kingdom that had existed in the previous 200 years. Internal strife was rampant, with a push from the Plebeian population demanding equal rights and a reduction in the power of the landowning Patrician families. Because this tale involves some Roman political offices, we have to dive into those, I won’t get into the intimate details of the Roman Republic’s governing offices (I dont want you to close your browser out of sheer desperation to stay awake) but let’s explain three of them at least – Consul, Tribune, and Dictator.

Consuls were a sort of executive branch of the Republic, elected/appointed from the ranks of the Senatorial/Patrician class. There were always two Consuls, and they served terms of one year. Consuls almost always came from the Patrician families (rich landowning families that loved to trace their lineage to mythological or historical figures). Because the Consuls came from the upper class of Roman society, they tended to pass laws or enact a change that favored themselves and their rich friends. Consuls were considered so important that the Romans marked their years not by numbers but by which Consuls were in power. Then, there were the Tribunes. There were ten Tribunes of the Plebs throughout most of the Republic’s history and these Tribunes were selected to represent the interest of the common people, known as Plebeians (shortened to Plebs). These Tribunes were put in place early in the Republic’s history to check the power of the Consuls and the Patricians, but as is usually the case when it comes to the rich vs poor, its MUCH easier said than done. These Tribunes could call an assembly of the people and propose legislation that, if passed, would only affect the Plebeians. However, their biggest power was their veto, Tribunes could veto acts from the Senate or Consuls. This veto was used throughout the Roman Republic to bring the government to standstills when the Plebeians felt overtly threatened or wanted change. Lastly, there was the title or office known as Dictator. While being the same word that we use today, the word and title meant something entirely different to our Ancient Roman friends. Dictator was usually an office created in extreme times of strife, trouble, or war in order to vest power in one person to solve whatever crisis had arisen. Because there were always two Consuls and a full Senate, the idea was to make sure one person was calling the shots in order to best resolve the crisis and avoid conflicting solutions or ideologies that may be detrimental. Usually, this dictator was a temporary office with a strict term limit, but that term limit could be extended if necessary.

Ok, now that you understand those offices and titles, lets get to the start of the story. So, there was this guy, a Tribune of the Plebeians named G. Terentilius Harsa who led a renewed campaign to check the Consuls’ power, as he felt they had become like kings (Romans hate kings). As it usually happens with super rich people, they didn’t like G. Terentilius Harsa and his attempt to ruin their perks. They used everything they could to stop him, eventually resorting to violence. This violent repression led to a large uprising by the people against the Patricians, eventually resulting in the death of one of the two Consuls of that year. The Roman Senate and remaining Consul, used the military against the people and put down this rebellion. Once the common people had been repressed, the Roman Patricians then led a military campaign against a constant enemy, Italic tribes who didn’t like the Romans and their grabs for power in the peninsula. Things did not go the way the Romans wanted. Now here is where things get a little muddled, while historians do GENERALLY accept that Cincinnatus was a historical figure, it’s extremely difficult to separate his factual life from fiction. As anything with ancient history, there is speculation (a better word than “guessing”) to fill in major gaps. It also does not help that our main sources, like the Roman historan Livy, are not the most reliable as they are writing hundreds of years after these events.

The legend of Cincinnatus goes like this: Cincinnatus lived his life in Rome for quite a while, eventually having some children. One of these children, Caeso, opposed the Plebeian attempts at reform, led by the aforementioned G. Terentilius Harsa, with considerable violence. He would lead gangs through the street and try to drive the Tribunes of the Plebs from speaking or being in the Forum. Because Caeso was not well liked, the Plebs ran him out of town and condemned him to death. His father, Cincinnatus, received the bulk of the punishment since Caeso wasn’t around anymore, and had to retire to a farm, now destitute due to heavy fines. Some time passes and an Italic tribe known as the Aequi (the tribe the Roman’s went to war with after they put down the plebeian rebellion in the previous paragraph) break a treaty and start to march against the Romans. Or the Roman’s marched against them first, it’s a little unclear. The Romans raise an army and are unable to stop the Aequi and were defeated in battle. The threat was now dire, so the Roman people turned to a figure who was humble and honorable (the Romans equate Cincinnatus having to pay that heavy fine and working a small farm himself with being humbled and gaining honor). Representatives of the Roman State approach Cincinnatus while working his fields, asked him to become dictator for a term of six months and to destroy the Aequi threat. Cincinnatus agreed, leaving his farm to lead a newly raised army. So, Cincinnatus leads this new army, and surrounds the Aequi while they were besieging the other Roman Consular army at the Battle of Mount Algidus. Cincinnatus offered the Aequi mercy instead of destruction, and realizing their only other option was to be annihilated between two Roman armies, the Aequi agree to surrender and be ruled over by the Romans. Cincinnatus arrives in Rome to a hero’s welcome, disbands his new army, quits as dictator, thus giving up absolute power, and returns to his farm to work. I should also add that all this was accomplished in only 15 days.

Historians doubt most of that legend as it was presented but that doesn’t mean a story about a guy being handed absolute power to do a job, doing that job perfectly, then giving it up at the first chance to go back to work on a meagre farm is any less appealing to idealistic minds, even if complete bullshit. Many of those idealistic minds happened to be America’s founding fathers. Most of these founding fathers were educated in a way that held up Greek and Roman history as an enlightened and noble period in mankind and thus emulated a lot of the values and government styles. One of those men, George Washington, America’s first president, is directly compared to Cincinnatus. Washington was handed the reigns of a brand-new country, a blank slate, and the power to shape his office in any way he saw fit. But instead of allowing the power to “corrupt” him, he chose to give up command of the Continental Army, the presidential office after two terms, and return to his estate in Virginia. So, because we have a group of men founding a country that were big fans of Rome and its stories, a first president who imitated a legendary/historical figure representing how to handle power, you get a society that names cities after long dead Roman figures, thus Cincinnati, Ohio (and Cincinnatus, New York). I told you it would be explained.