12. Offering inspiration to a beleaguered George Washington, the legend of Cincinnatus – a Roman general who accepted power reluctantly only to surrender it once the crisis ended – is accepted as being founded in historical truth
Born, according to traditional accounts, in 519 BCE during the last decade of the Roman Kingdom, Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus was a Roman patrician and military leader who ascended to legendary status by the time of the Roman Empire. Opposed to the plebian reforms of the mid-5th century BCE, Cincinnatus retired from the city to his estate west of the Tiber to become a farmer. However, during a time of great emergency, Cincinnatus reluctantly returned to serve as dictator in either 458 or 457 BCE. Surrendering his power upon achieving a swift victory against the enemies of Rome, Cincinnatus was called on once more in 439 to assume the mantle of command again in a time of trouble.
Debated for centuries, the truth behind the legend of Cincinnatus has remained a disputed aspect of Roman history. Serving as an outstanding example of humility and civic leadership, offering inspiration to George Washington millenniums later, many older historians decried the character, who has since given his name to countless places around the world, as a fictitious creation of an ideal ruler. However, recent investigation and corroboration strongly suggest that, at the very least, the bare bones of Cincinnatus’s tale to be accurate, with Livy – among others – recording the events of his life contemporaneously.