Doctor Curmudgeon® Where is Cincinnatus When You Need Him?

By Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D. FAAP Doctor Eisman, is in Family Practice in Aventura, Florida with her partner, Dr. Eugene Eisman, an internist/cardiologist

There are those of you who believe that I have been around for, at least, a millennium.

You have been misinformed.

Today, my thoughts turn to Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus. He was born around 519 BCE. And I was born a tad later. He was not an acquaintance of mine. Unfortunately, we never had the opportunity to meet.

It was in my youth that I read about Cincinnatus. And these trying times have sent me back to review those narratives.

I harken back to 458 BCE when a Roman Army was on the verge of defeat by its enemies. Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus was appointed to the office of Dictator of Rome.

This gave him the power and resources to plan and execute an operation that rescued the surrounded, embattled Roman army. It has been told that he was able to accomplish this military feat in one day.

Immediately after this heroic victory, Cincinnatus returned to his farm, relinquishing his title of dictator.

Many narratives swirling around Cincinnatus agree that he had been happily plowing away on his farm when he was summoned to bring Rome through a military crisis. And they concur that when the enemy army had been defeated under his command, he immediately returned to his home. About two years after he had given up his command, he was then elected a Consul of Rome.

Consuls who commanded the Roman army were representatives regarding foreign affairs and presided over the Senate. They were actually heads of state; and Cincinnatus was awarded this honor for his selfless devotion to his country.

There are clouds around this story and there are those who believe that some of this chronicle of Cincinnatus is spurious. But there are many accounts that testify to his leaving the army, giving up his power and returning to his farm. He remains a legendary figure of such civic virtue that George Washington has been compared to him. Washington, like Cincinnatus, had been urged to be the commander of the Continental Army. Like Cincinnatus, he too was called from his retirement to be a leader; and when the war was over, he gave up his command and returned to his farm.

Both men have been embodied with placing the principle of public service above any personal gain.

In 1783, the Society of the Cincinnati was formed to commemorate the American Revolutionary War.

One of my favorite resources, Wikipedia says:

“The Society is named after Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, who left his farm to accept a term as Roman Consul and served as Magister Populi (with temporary powers similar to that of a modern-era dictator). He assumed lawful dictatorial control of Rome to meet a war emergency. When the battle was won, he returned power to the Senate and went back to plowing his fields. The Society’s motto reflects that ethic of selfless service: Omnia reliquit servare rempublicam (“He relinquished everything to save the Republic”).”

Indeed, we are seriously in need of statesmen who embody the principles attributed to Cincinnatus.

From Wikipedia:
“His success and immediate resignation of his near-absolute authority with the end of this crisis (traditionally dated to 458 BC) has often been cited as an example of outstanding leadership, service to the greater good, civic virtue, humility, and modesty.”

Dr. Curmudgeon suggests “Bitter Medicine”, Dr. Eugene Eisman’s story of his experiences–from the humorous to the intense—as a young army doctor serving in the Vietnam War.

Bitter Medicine by Eugene H. Eisman, M.D. –on Amazon

Doctor Curmudgeon® is Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D., a physician-satirist. This column originally appeared on SERMO, the leading global social network for doctors.

SERMO www.sermo.com “talk real world medicine”