THE LESSON OF CINCINNATUS
The mental connection really clicked on Presidents Day.
As you may recall (or see TGIM #292 below), we wondered here about who we were honoring -- Washington or Lincoln or, perhaps a lesser known President, say, our 14th, Franklin Pierce. I suggested that perhaps commemorating Presidents Day was more about the office than the individual.
And in getting to that point I mentioned George Washington declining the designation –
King of America. Now the interesting thing is that from the get-go “His Excellency” General Washington never even intended to take a post-war “governmental” role in the new republic. He agreed to lead the colonial forces in rebellion and, obviously, was ultimately successful in that regard. But he then anticipated his return to Mt. Vernon to continue his life as a “farmer.”
Just like Cincinnatus.
Who?
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus (519 BC – 438 BC) was an aristocrat and political figure of the Roman Republic, serving as consul in 460 BC and Roman dictator in 458 BC and 439 BC.
Fire up the way-back machine. Put yourself in a colonial frame of mind and let’s consider what guided the thinking of the Founding Fathers, Washington among them.
Most were well-heeled and well-educated, with considerable libraries and many with a mastery of Greek, Latin and Hebrew as well as contemporary foreign language skills. So, in addition to the idealized version of Greek and Roman governance that they advocated, they knew their history, particularly that promulgated by the Roman historian Livy.
The Cincinnatus story. In a nutshell it goes like this:
He came.
He saw.
He conquered.
Then he went home.
A bit more detail: Cincinnatus left his farm to accept a term as Roman Consul and then served as Magister Populi assuming a quasi-lawful dictatorial control of Rome to meet a war emergency. He led Roman troops to victory. And when he succeeded, he returned power to the Roman Senate and went back to plowing his fields.
Just like Washington intended. After the British packed out in 1783, and GW was satisfied the (small “u”) united states no longer required him to lead an army, he headed home to Mt. Vernon. On the way, at several stops beginning in New York, he delivered “farewell” addresses making his Cincinnatus- like intentions clear.
He was shortly convinced to do otherwise, as we know, and assumed the presidency. But even then his Cincinnatus-guided resolve to serve two terms then get out served the fledgling democracy well.
TGIM Takeaway: Cincinnatus abandoning his farming to serve Rome, and especially his immediate resignation of his absolute authority with the end of the crisis, is often cited as an example of outstanding leadership, service to the greater good, civic virtue, and modesty.
In the bright February/March 2011 light of digitally fueled “democratic” popular uprisings around the globe, it’s stimulating to think this history lesson has not been applied in many situations. The long, long list of perhaps once right-minded individuals who overstayed their welcome and became tyrannical is, unfortunately, staggering.
How many of the current “dictators” now being challenged might have gone down in history as “the George Washington” of their nation had they only followed the lesson of Cincinnatus?
On the other side of the coin: Nobel Peace Prizes have gone to Nelson Mandela and Lech Walesa, some modern day adherents to somewhat Cincinnatian principles with legacies to be proud of.
So we must ask: Will today’s digital revolutionaries and the leaders they eventually install have George Washington’s inclination and resolve to serve then move on?
And how about you? In your business, civic and/or private life have you evaluated your ongoing leadership role lately? Have once-democratic ideals and behavior become a bit dictatorial? Have you overstayed your welcome; been “in office” too long?
TGIM ACTION IDEA: Think like Cincinnatus. Behave like Washington.
Can we “mere mortals” be so heroic? Don Higginbotham, a leading scholar of Washington and expert on colonial and revolutionary America and the early national United States who served twice as visiting professor of history at the United States Military Academy suggests we can. He noted:
Washington had no smashing, stunning victories. He was not a military genius, and his tactical and strategic maneuvers were not the sort that awed men. Military glory was not the source of his reputation.
Something else was involved.
Washington's genius, his greatness, lay in his character. He became a great man and was acclaimed as a classical hero because of the way he conducted himself during times of temptation. It was his moral character that set him off from other men. Washington seemed to possess self-cultivated nobility. This virtue was not given to him by nature. He had to work for it, to cultivate it, and everyone sensed that.
Washington was a self-made hero. Guided by the lessons of his life and his understanding of the story of Cincinnatus, perhaps we can successfully follow their example.
TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: Consider relinquishing power to both secure your legacy and advance your cause. Act nobly when others least expect it. Tackle the task at hand without regard for what may be gained individually.
It’s not about lack of ambition.
It’s about leadership. It’s about being a caretaker of an idea or principle and seeing it through until it’s the best you can make it, then stepping aside to let others advance the cause.
Work for it. Cultivate it. Then enjoy the laurels.
Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing
8 Depot Square
P.S. “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.” King George III of the England has been reported to have said that upon hearing from painter Benjamin West of Washington's impending retirement as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army.
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