WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Great Men Back Then: Cincinnatus

Episode Date: April 23, 2024

Cincinnatus was an upstanding Roman statesman. Although he was Roman, he inspired many Americans, perhaps even George Washington. Tune in to learn why Washington is known as the "Second Cincinnatus." 

You are listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Lauren Scott, and this is Great Men Back Then, the show where we talk about great people in American history. Today, we won't be talking about an American citizen, but rather a Roman citizen. But it is because he has such significance in American history, I believe he should be featured on this show. After all, even though this man is a Roman, he is always compared to the first president of the United States. Lucius Sinanatus was a Roman statesman, who was one of the leaders of the early Roman Republic. He is remembered for his embodiment of Roman virtue, specifically humility and modesty. Having been born in 519 BC, Cincinnati was one of those Roman leaders who really helped instill virtue in the Roman citizens,

during its early days. Now, even though Cincinnati, when he eventually became retired, this did not mean that he stopped putting forth his best effort to serve the Roman citizens. And we see this best through the example of whenever he had already been retired, but he literally left his farm, his homeland, to help fight a war. It was in the year 458 BC that Roman. that Rome was attacked by its neighbor. It was the Roman Senate that agreed unanimously to appoint Sinanatus as a dictator for six months.

So after this agreement was made, some senators traveled to Cincinnati's farm and approached him while he was quite literally in the middle of plowing his fields. As the story goes, Cincinnati left his farm, he left the fields in the middle of his plowing, and he went to go fight Rome's enemy. So during this time, Cincinnati had complete control of Rome. He was literally the dictator. And even though he was appointed dictator for six months,

it only took him a little bit more than two weeks to defeat Rome's enemy and declare victory. And after these two weeks were over, Cincinnati gave up all of his power, went back to his farm, and lived a simple and humble life. Now, the reason I chose to talk about Cincinnati on great men back then today is because, well, first, it was Rome's birthday a couple days ago. Shout out, happy birthday to you, Rome.

And second, Cincinnati has often been compared to the first president of the United States, George Washington. If you haven't heard the nickname for Washington, the second Cincinnati, well, you may be living under a rock. Or maybe you're just not a history buff like I am. Either way, I'm not going to hold it against you because it, least you know now. The reason why people compare Cincinnati and Washington is because during the American Revolution, Washington quite literally did the same thing as the Roman statesman. He left his farm to defend his country. Another similarity is that these two men were not motivated by power. They could care less about the political implications of taking charge of an army and achieving great

victory. Genuinely, what they were driven by was their deep devotion and loyalty to their country and its citizens. And then we also have the similarity of them not taking advantage of the power that was granted to them. Cincinnati was appointed dictator of Rome. He could have kept that power for six months justifiably because that's what he was appointed for. And then once he was granted that power in the first place, it would have been that much easier for him then to take advantage of it. The same thing happened with Washington. After he served the Continental Army and led them to victory, he was then called to be president of the United States. Another circumstance in which he had to

leave the comfort of his home, leave his farm, and then serve the American citizens. Washington set the precedent for the president in only running for two terms, even though people begged him to run for more. But he realized that any good political leader should not love power so much

that they want to serve more than two terms. He realized that they just fought so hard for independence from Great Britain, who was under a monarchy. So why would he then establish that same thing in America. Even though it would have brought him glory and political power is pretty nice, at the end of the day, he realized that that wasn't the kind of precedent that he wanted to set for the future American presidents. And as we know, the presidents did a pretty good job of following

this kind of unspoken rule of only running for two terms until FDR. And then after him, of course, now no president can run more than two terms, which is probably for the best. It is because Cincinnati embodied eternal virtues that we also see in George Washington, I argue he was a great man. Thank you for listening to Great Men Back Then. I'm Lawrence Scott on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.