Origin of My Pen Name:

Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus

Little is known about Quinctius Cincinnatus, except that he was a roman consul from 460 B.C. to 438 B.C. The rest of what we know has been derived from legend, and we believe these legends to be true because facts in them correspond to Roman military recordings.

Around 458 B.C., the Romans were at war with the Aequi and Sabines. It was a losing war, and after numerous defeats and humiliations the Romans became trapped in the Alban hills. The main force of the Roman army was surrounded here, along with a Roman consul, Minucius. The consul had led this force into the trap and was now attempting to ward off a siege.

The Senate, having been notified by escaped horsemen, fell into havoc. They agreed to hail consul Cincinnatus as dictator. When they went to find and notify him, they found him out ploughing his fields. It is said that he asked them what was wrong and they told him they had elected to hail him dictator for six months. He sent his wife to fetch his senatorial toga then went to gather an army.

He led the attack himself and annihilated the opposing armies. The leaders begged him not to slaughter them, and Cincinnatus, not wanting to cause unnecessary bloodshed, proposed an alternative. He set up a yoke of three spears, and had the opposing Aequi's and Sabines' officers pass underneath it, bowing and admitting defeat.

Afterwards, the war ended and he disbanded the army. He gave up the remain five and a half months of dictatorship, instead choosing to return to the plough.

In a mere sixteen days, Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus joined and ended a war, saving a Roman consul and a large Roman force from certain demise.