Roman statesman who was called from his farm to serve as dictator during a Roman military crisis, defeated the enemy in 15 days, and then immediately resigned his extraordinary powers and returned to his farm — the supreme Roman example of civic virtue and voluntary limitation of power.
Represents the republican ideal that power should be held reluctantly and returned voluntarily — Cincinnatus is the model that Washington consciously emulated when he resigned the American command and returned to his farm — making him the archetype of republican virtue against the temptation of power.
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