CINCINNATUS 597 law of inheritance confers only the right'to be voted for, and the society admits or declines to admit according to its estimate of the character of the eldest male descendant. If he he deem- ed not worthy, the right is held in abeyance. The impression prevailed in the public at large that the germ of an hereditary aristocracy was concealed within the society, and in some of the states charters were for that reason refused to the branch societies. At the second general meeting, held in 1787, Washington was elected president-general, and was reflected trienni- .ally during his life. He was succeeded by Hamilton and the Pinckneys, and the society was in all its vigor during the visit to the United States in 1824-'5 of Lafayette, who was its only surviving major general. The so- cieties of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts had acts of incorporation. The Connecticut soci- ety was dissolved in 1804, after a patriotic val- edictory by Col. Humphreys. The Delaware society was dissolved about the same time, the more attached of the members carrying their share of the funds into the Pennsylvania soci- ety. The New Hampshire, Khode Island, and Virginia societies continued to exist nearly as long, the first, upon its discontinuance, depositing its records in the state 'historical society, and the last named appropriating its funds toward the endowment of Washington college. The Georgia society also was discon- tinued, bequeathing its funds to the parent society. Robert Burnet of New York, who died in 1854, was the last survivor of the original members of the association. It has at present six state branches, which hold an- nual meetings on the 4th of July, viz., Massa- chusetts, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. The gen- eral society meets triennially, and its conven- tions have been held successively at Philadel- phia, New York, Baltimore, Charleston, Tren- ton, and Boston. Among the earlier honorary members of the Cincinnati of Pennsylvania were Benjamin Franklin, Sharp Delany, and Eobert Morris; among those of New Jersey were Elias Boudinot, William Livingston, and Fred- erick Frelinghuysen ; among those in New York were Chancellor Livingston, Gouverneur Morris, Rufus King, Stephen Van Rensselaer, the naval commanders Bainbridge, Biddle, Stewart, Hull, and Perry, and Generals Jack- son, Scott, Brown, Cadwallader, Taylor, Worth, Wool, Grant, and others. The best accounts of the society are in the " North American Re- view " for October, 1853, and in the "Memoirs of the Pennsylvania Historical Society," vol. vi. CINCINNATI'S, Lneins Qnlntins, a Roman sena- tor, born about 519 B. C., died after 439. He was a rich patrician, and was occupied with the cultivation of his estates at the time when Terentilus Arsa commenced his demands for the enactment of written laws which should be binding upon the patricians and plebeians alike (462). These demands gave rise to great -disturbances, and Caeso, son of Cincinnatus, took an active part in them on the side of the patricians. One Marcus Volscius, a plebeian, testified that Cseso knocked down his brother while he was feeble from sickness, and injured him in such a manner that he died. Upon this evidence Caaso was convicted, and according to Livy Cincinnatus was compelled to pay such a heavy fine on his account that he was ruined. The resistance to the passage of the Terentilian law was kept up by the patricians, and in the course of it Herdonius (460) took possession of the capitol with a band of out- laws and slaves. The citizens attempted to recover possession of it, and in the conflict that resulted the consul, Publius Valerius Publicola, and CSBSO were killed. Cincinnatus was ap- pointed consul in the place of Publicola. He was embittered by the loss of his son, and op- posed with great violence the enactment of the Terentilian law. - When his consulship expired he retired to a small estate beyond the Tiber which belonged to him, and devoted himself to its cultivation. In 459, the patricians then being in the ascendancy, Marcus Volscius was accused of having borne false witness upon the trial of Caaso. In 458 the JEqui and Volsci resumed war against the Romans. Lucius Minucius, the Roman consul, with all his army, was shut up in a defile and hemmed in by the enemy on all sides. Five horsemen broke through, and brought news of what had happened to Rome. It was resolved that Cin- cinnatus should be created dictator. Messen- gers were sent by the senate to inform him of his appointment. They found him at work in his field, clad in his tunic. He called his wife, Racilia, and bade her bring him his toga, in order that he might receive the message of the senate clothed in the garb of a Roman citizen. He accepted the office, and made Lucius Tar- quitius, a patrician, master of the horse. He raised an army by making a general levy of all the citizens, and marched to the relief of the consul. He surrounded the enemy in turn, so that they were in a ring between the consul's army and his own, and were compelled to ca- pitulate. In this manner Cincinnatus saved the state within 24 hours. Such is the ac- count given by Livy ; but Niebuhr and other modern historians have shown that the legend is destitute of truth. While Cincinnatus was dictator, the trial of Marcus Volscius for bear- ing false witness came on for hearing at the comitia, and Cincinnatus presided over it. Marcus Volscius was compelled to go into exile. In 439 L. Minucius Augurinus, prcefectus annonm, charged SpuriusMaelius, a rich plebeian knight, with seeking to make himself king. Thereupon Cincinnatus, then 80 years of age, was again appointed dictator. Caius Ahala was appointed master of the horse. The capi- tol and other strong places were garrisoned by the patricians. Ahala sent an officer to bring Maalius before the dictator, but Mselius kept the officer at bay with a butcher's knife, and took refuge in the crowd. Ahala, at the head
