Cincinnatus the citizen-soldier and an analogy with some more modern leaders

Gracchii, as you would expect, has had a range of good articles up on ancient Rome. This one writes about Cincinnatus - a Roman leader from the era of the Republic - who led the armies of Rome to victory as a 'dictator' and then retired to his farm.

The story of the man is interesting. It juxtaposes the idea of military power with the bucolic ideal of country life. The story was seen by Romans - and has been seen by others since - as a story of how times of crises require men to leave their normal, rural, bucolic lives and enter into the military sphere. The entrance into the sphere of military and political power is supposed to be only temporary, though, and when the crisis is past the idea is that - as they have no lust for power for its own sake - they return to their quiet civilian life. The myth of Cincinnatus and of that kind of approach has echoed down through the ages.

One of the oldest contemporary republics, the United States, has a prime example of a Cincinnatus-type figure in the form of George Washington. Having been elected president, some thought that he would stay in office for the duration of his natural life. However, Washington set a good precedent. He stood down after two terms and retired to country life [albeit as a slave-owner] just like Cincinnatus did. This pattern has been followed by most other US presidents, who have served two terms and then stood down [of course, after Roosevelt's 4 terms, it was constitutionally mandated that they could only serve 2 terms].

Other leaders, too, can be said to have partly followed Cincinnatus' example. The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V - a man who at one point ruled Central Europe, Spain and parts of the Americas - stepped down in 1555 and retired. In that era it was very unusual for a king to abdicate unless faced with a serious threat of being overthrown. That was not the case in Charles' situation. As such, he voluntarily chose a more bucolic life and stepped down from the hurly-burly of power.

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