Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Cincinnatus, Lucius Quinctius

CINCINNATUS, LUCIUS QUINCTIUS, a wealthy patrician in the early days of the Roman Republic, born about 519 B. C. He succeeded Publicola in the consulship, and then retired to cultivate his small estate beyond the Tiber. The messengers of the senate found him at work on his farm when they came to summon him to the dictatorship. He rescued the army from its peril, and then returned quietly to his farm. At the age of 80 he was again appointed dictator to oppose the ambitious designs of Spurius Mælius.