A little over 2,500 years ago, there lived a man named Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus. If his name seems familiar, that’s because one of the United States’ great cities is named after him. Cincinnatus had served the Roman Republic in several capacities, including Consul of the Senate of Rome. But in 458 BC, the Roman Army was struggling to defeat the Aequi, an Italic tribe to the east of the city of Rome.
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Cincinnatus had retired to a farm, but when Rome called, he answered. He was appointed Dictator by the Roman Senate, giving him absolute power over the city – and the army. He oversaw a quick victory over the Aequi; the Roman historian Livy puts the time at sixteen days. With that done, Cincinnatus surrendered the dictatorship and went back to his farm.
Livy and other Roman scribes of the time held Cincinnatus up as a model