CINCINNATUS, LUCIUS QUINTIUS (b. c: 519 B.c.), one of the heroes of early Rome. He worked his own small farm. A persistent opponent of the plebeians, he resisted the proposal of Terentilius Arsa to draw up a code of written laws applicable equally to patricians and plebeians. Twice he was called to the dictatorship of Rome (458 and 439)• In 458 he defeated the Aequians in a single day, and after entering Rome in triumph with large spoils returned to his farm. The story of his success, related five times under five different years, possibly rests on an historical basis, but the account given in Livy is incredible.
See Livy iii. 26-29 ; Dion. Halic. x. 23-25 ; Florus i. II. For a critical examination of the story see Schwegler, Romische Geschichte, bk. xxviii. 12 ; E. Pais, Storia di Roma, i. ch. 4 (1898).