Cincinnatus: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:Lucius Quinticus Cincinnatus.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|''Kahless said: "Great men do not seek power, they have power thrust upon them."''|''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]
There is an emergency, threatening the entire kingdom. Even the king admits he is not capable of dealing with it, so he finds his wisest and most able knight and grants that knight total power.
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Often overlaps with [[Call to Agriculture]], when the retired character decides to raise cabbages in manly obscurity.
Partly because this is a [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism|highly idealistic]] trope, it's extremely rare in fiction, but notable for when it happens. However, it's [[Truth in Television]]: not only did it happen with '''Cincinnatus''', but all succeeding Roman ''dictators'' ("he who dictates [orders]") also willingly gave up power before or at the end of the prescribed six months, up to and throughout the Punic Wars. It is only with Sulla, after the office had not been used for over a hundred years, that any Roman attempted to abuse the dictatorship. And even Sulla, while abusing his dictatorial power in many ways and having arranged to not have a time limit on his dictatorship, still stepped down after a year. The first ''successful'' attempt to defy this tradition came without the actual ([[Just the First Citizen|specific]]) title of dictator, and resulted in the creation of [[The Roman Empire]].
Of course some [[Evil Overlord
When played more cynically it may overlap with [[Honor Before Reason]].
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Contrast [[Regent for Life]], [[Unfit for Greatness]].
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* Tylor in ''[[Irresponsible Captain Tylor]]'' is given full control of Earth's fleet at one point, but {{spoiler|he doesn't even use it to fight the battle he's ''supposed'' to fight.}}
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** Which was probably why this conversation followed a debate on whether Batman was appointed by the people or self-elected.
* In ''[[Cat City]]'' (Macskafogó, one of the best animation movies ever, for Hungarians) Grabovsky, the [[James Bond|Bond]]-Mouse was called back from retirement like Cincinnatus. The evil cat boss, spying on the meeting of mice leaders, heard the reference and thought that Cincinnatus was a new secret agent (in Hungarian, "Cincin" is the onomatopoeia for the sound mice make), so he sent his assistant, Safranek, to look him up. This led to Safranek being tortured, as he unwisely told his boss that Cincinnatus was a historical figure, which is common knowledge.
* The [[Evil Overlord]] section describes [[Manipulative Bastard|Senator Palpatine]] to a T. Not only does he create a lack of confidence in Chancellor Velorum (positioning himself as his replacement), he also organizes the entire
{{quote|'''Palpatine:''' It is with great reluctance that I have agreed to this calling. I love democracy. I love the Republic. Once this crisis has abated, I will lay down the powers you have given me!}}
== Literature ==
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** It was in fact accepted Roman practice to install a Dictator to oversee elections or conduct ceremonies that required a Consul when no Consul was available, with the expectation that he would resign the moment the job was done. Attempting to parlay that remit into any kind of lasting political power would have been a pretty efficient way to get yourself killed ''a la'' the Gracchi. Caesar's appointment to that station was well-precedented and, by the standards of the time, uncontroversial. (The office of dictator was the only one in the Roman constitution that could be held by a single man: usually the supreme power was held by ''two'' consuls, who could veto each other's decisions and generally did. In peacetime, this meant rule by consensus; in war, it generally meant your leaderless legions were about to be wiped out. Hence the need to have one supreme authority in times of crisis.)
*** Somewhat uncontroversial, as he was a candidate in the election in question (and not surprisingly, won).
* Scipio Africanus. While he never actually had absolute power, it is arguable that he could have - he was a four-star badass who actually defeated Hannibal, thus gaining more prestige then any Roman had ever had. Instead of attempting to take power, he retired to his villa to get away from the [[Obstructive Bureaucrat
* Another historical example is [[George Washington]], who was unanimously elected to two terms as U.S. president. When there was no law or even a custom about serving only that many, he declined to run for election again (in fact, he started the custom, which in spite of attempts at third terms by some presidents, wasn't actually broken until [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]). He could have served even longer, but is considered a modern Cincinnatus for not doing so. Cincinnati is partly named in his honor also. Washington pulled this off once prior when he resigned his commission in the army and went back to private life for ''years'' before becoming president. On hearing that Washington planned to invoke this trope, King George III said, "If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world."
** Polk was before the two-term limit was imposed, but he didn't run for a second term, saying that there was no need as he'd already accomplished everything he wanted to in his first term. Rutherford B. Hayes also declined to run for a second term, keeping a promise he'd made shortly after being elected in highly suspicious circumstances (he won by ''one'' electoral vote, with three states' electoral vote allocations being heavily disputed, and had lost the popular vote). Calvin Coolidge also declined to run again in 1928 despite having served for just under six years as President (similarly to Johnson, except that Coolidge had no term limits). All other one-term presidents (besides the ones that died in their first term) ran for a second term and either lost the election or were passed over by their party.
** The city of Cincinnati, Ohio is specifically named after the Order of the Cincinnati, a military veterans' organization of which George Washington was a founding member. Many critics of the organization consider it ironic that despite ostensibly honoring the retirement of officers into private pursuits, the organization itself amassed a great deal of power after the Revolution and became the closest thing the country had to a landed gentry.
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* Juan Carlos I of Spain. Handpicked by the infamous dictator Francisco Franco to succeed him. During Franco's rule he seemed to be a loyal supporter and destined to continue Franco's policies. All the insiders believed it would be business as usual after Franco was dead. Once Franco was in the ground and Juan had become King of Spain and received the absolute power of his predecessor, he voluntarily used that power to turn Spain into a constitutional monarchy with a Westminster style-Parliament, knowingly and willingly reducing himself to a figurehead in the process. And ''then'', he personally browbeat the officers who attempted a coup to return to the good old Franco days into submission.
** Similarly, when Venezuelan dictator Juan Vicente Gómez chose his War Minister Eleazar Lopez Contreras as his successor, people expected him to continue managing the country as his personal farm. Instead, he made a deep social reform and cut down the presidential term from seven years to five years and served only three or four years of it, quitting and abandoning politics altogether.
* Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (lit. "Father of Turks") was an officer in the Turkish military who parlayed his victories against Allied forces (especially at Gallipoli) into becoming the first leader of the modern Turkish Republic. He made himself the first Prime Minister and first Speaker of Parliament, but he gave up those titles in a matter of years, though he remained President (a ceremonial role) for the rest of his life. Kemalism is so strong an influence in Turkey that coups are performed by the military (which is extremely popular as a political force) when their leaders perceive that the government is acting inappropriately to his spirit. Power is typically handed back to democratically-elected officials within years, peacefully. To date, this has happened approximately four times (1960, '71, '81, and '97), and the potential for another coup is credited by some for keeping the currently-ruling Islamic party from interfering with Turkey's tradition of secular government. Turkish votes very nearly made Ataturk the "Man of the Century" in a [https://web.archive.org/web/20000408225402/http://www.time.com/time/time100/time100poll.html Time poll] for the same title.
** At least, the Turkish army ''thinks'' of itself as defending Turkey from the super-religious AK Parti. Since the big examples of Islamism include trying to lift a government ban on headscarves and the AKP has more female MPs & ministers than any previous parliament, we can take their claims with a pinch of salt.
** It's also interesting to note that the
* When you think about it, a revealing definition of [[The Republic]] might simply be "A society organized for the purpose of reliably mass-producing a sufficient number of Cincinnati."
* The Duke of Zhou is celebrated as a figure of "proper authority" in Chinese mythology as he served as regent for his nephew, Cheng Wang the King of Zhou, until Cheng Wang came of age and peacefully transferred authority to his nephew.
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[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]
[[Category:Cincinnatus]]
[[Category:Example as a Thesis]]
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