Cincinnatus

the hero of a patriotic legend of Rome. Born about 519 B. C. He was an upholder of the patricians in their struggles with the plebians. He cultivated a field of four acres across the Tiber from Rome. In 458 a Roman army was hemmed in a defile of Mt. Algidus. The senate named Cincinnatus dictator and sent deputies to inform "the sole hope of the Roman people." Livy tells the story:

This man cultivated a farm of four acres. "There, either leaning on a stake in a ditch which he was digging, or ... ploughing, ... being requested by the ambassadors to listen to the commands of the Senate," he was saluted Dictator of Rome. Going immediately thither, he led the citizens against their foes, and soon returned victorious. "The leaders of the enemy were led before his car; ... his army followed, laden with spoil." Having finished his task, he resigned his dictatorship on the sixteenth day of holding it, and returned to his farm.