Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal Quotes

“Roman rule possessed the following principles: -put no pressure on others to conform, -destroy no cultural traditions, -suppress no difference of language, -impose the way of peace, -build an institutional framework strong enough to be taken for granted as people go about their daily concerns, -enable representation of all people in government and allow their ambitions to be fulfilled.530”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“A well-lived life of virtue and work in anonymity is now perceived as “drab and undesirable,” while according to Hollywood writer, Clive James, «fame (is) found increasingly fascinating.»518 Instead of actions and virtues taking on lives greater than any one person, the cult of personality dominates—the celebrity is remembered for who he is, not for what he lived. In such circumstances, latter-day Napoleons—not Cincinnati—thrive, the former having thirsted so badly “to be famous, and…want(ing)…fame to last after. death.”519 Daniel Boorstin contrasts the heroism of values and deeds with that of celebrity:   A man’s name (previously) was not apt to become a household word unless he exemplified greatness in some way or other. The twentieth century has confused celebrity worship and hero worship. We have willingly been misled into believing. that fame—well-knowness—is. a hallmark ofgreatness.520”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“The twentieth century possessed a clear-cut purpose—the unquestioned victory of democracy—the accomplishment of which resulted in a gift to the world. The century’s greatest heroes reflect the triumph of a democratic way of life over totalitarianism.”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“In a time when world agreement is so necessary and yet so hard to realize, Rome recalls the one period when it was almost realized, a period which (some) considered the happiest in human history.”516   Robert Broughton”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“Truman recognized the importance of submitting to an established pattern in a system much larger than himself. He tied his decision to the importance of the time-honored, limiting presidential precedence. In his declaration on this matter, Truman stated simply, “When Rome forgot Cincinnatus, its downfall began.”508”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“Citadel graduate, Congressman Steve Buyer, cites the institution’s mission as, “to prepare citizen-soldiers, a concept that dates back to Cincinnatus.” These direct linkages to modern-day Cincinnatus images conjure the timeless citizen-warrior ideal of the patriot who rises up in defense of the nation in times of duress and then returns home once duty is served.”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“Like Cincinnatus, most American servicemen returned to the proverbial plow. In 1945, we had 12 million men and women in uniform. One year later, we had fewer than 3 million wearing a uniform.505”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“There is a lure in power. It can get into a man’s blood just as gambling and lust for money have been known to do. This is a Republic. The greatest in the history of the world. I want this country to continue as a Republic. Cincinnatus and Washington pointed the way. When Rome forgot Cincinnatus, its downfall began. When we forget the examples of such men as Washington, Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson. then we start down the road. to ruin.”501”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“The liberty of this country and its great interests will never be secure if its public men become mere menials to do the biddings of their constituents instead of being representatives in the true sense of the word, looking to the lasting prosperity and future interests of the whole country.489”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“.in history you have a record of the infinite variety of human experience plainly set out for all to see; and in that record you can find for yourself and your country both examples and warnings; fine things to take as models, base things, rotten through and through, to avoid.”429”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“The Farm: Leaving and Returning. Aristocratic farmers in agrarian societies, Washington and Cincinnatus symbolized “first citizens” in their noble pursuits of their days’ leading industry. That they both favored their farms over the glamorous of state only added luster to the shared symbolism and enabled even the commonest of citizens to grasp its significance. Two farmers called from the fields to lead their people and return home. Together, they represented the hero’s painful separation from one’s personal commitments on behalf of a public cause.”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“Both men were at peace with their cause, seeking no greater glory than service itself. They reached a state where their internal compass controlled their external behavior.”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“Both men were transformers in life; they thought not of themselves but of a higher cause. They assumed truly heroic transformations in bringing to their societies the idea “you have been thinking one way, you now have to think a different way.”399”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“The most singularly significant bond between Cincinnatus and Washington is Washington’s resignation of the military commission at the end of the Revolution. As a military leader, Washington fought the entire conflict under the assumptions of only two formal pledges: to resign as soon as independence was won and to receive no compensation for his efforts.394”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“Altogether he made a most noble, respectable appearance, and I really think him the first man in the world. After hav- ing had the management and care of the whole Continental army, he has now retired without receiving any pay for his trouble. he knows how to prefer solid happiness in his retirement. I admire him as superior to even the Roman heroes themselves. I am told during the war he was never seen to smile. he had only the good of his country at heart. his greatest pride now is, to be thought the first farmer in America. He is quite a Cincinnatus, and often works with his men himself—— strips off his coat and labors like a common man ..375”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“Charles Royster analyzes this pursuit of model-based heroism as:   …a concern for… reputation in the word “honor. “ The term referred not simply to. conscience or self-esteem, but also to pub- lic acknowledgement of(a) claim to respect. To have honor and to be honored were very close, if not the same.374”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“To identify with an ancient legend such as Cincinnatus, or a living legend such as Washington, Franklin, or Jefferson, was to ask for nothing other than the recognition from fellow Americans for having done so.”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“the founding fathers wholeheartedly believed “life was a school for virtue, and one must find the proper teachers.”366 As a teacher, someone of Cincinnatus’s virtue was “emulated, and spread,” as Hume said, by “contagion.”367”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“It doesn’t help to try to change (the system) to accord with your system of thought. The momentum of history behind it is too great for anything really significant to evolve from that kind of action. The thing to do is learn to live in your period of history as a human being. That’s something else, and it can be done.364”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“In Rome’s movement away from a republic, Livy led a first century B.C. revival through the Cincinnatus example. To communicate Roman virtue through the ancient legends to his age, Livy faced a project similar to the one faced by the United States’ founders; he quarried history in a study of models and men to either emulate or avoid so as to forestall the “dangers of avarice, luxury, and passion.”358 Used in the Livy project to describe the ideal citizen-soldier model for a new generation, Cincinnatus was a spark intended to ignite a renewal in traditional Roman values.”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“The second factor that led to the Roman society’s ability to organize collectively in the face of threat was the internal situation, to include such factors as the family, tradition, obedience, spirituality, incentives and concessions. It was a combination of these factors that helped the society overcome an unjust political and social structure and band together in the face of threat.”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“This people learned to put aside domestic differences, develop sound military and civil defense tactics, and build a collective sense of well-being by working together for a common purpose. This form of collective action is essential to a society. It comprises one of the founding organizing principles of any group or groups of people who successfully gather together to complete higher order tasks.97”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“Karl von Clausewitz states that in war, uncertainty, danger, and unpredictability are countered only through such moral forces of courage, self-confidence, esprit, and a sense of duty.96”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“The defensive posture is attributed to Rome’s focus on the consolidation of the city around its seven hills, but it also reflects Rome’s internal class warfare and confused structure of governance that relied on crisis management, versus proactive, governance.”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“James Madison’s logic in 1787 still holds, a further offering of this form will someday be made available to the world. Madison states:   …extend the sphere and you take in a greater variety of parties and interests; you make it less probable that a majority of the whole will have a common motive to invade the rights of other citizens; or if such a common motive exists, it will be more difficult to all who feel it to discover their own strength and to act in unison with each other.42”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“The rare example of thoughtful, studied deliberation occurred in 1787 with the drafting of the U.S. Constitution. Now, events call for the same studiousness, deliberation, and debate on governance at a global scale. If that debate does not occur, events themselves, through those “factions” or what are today known as “special interests,” will determine the fundamental goals and principles under which future civilization will be governed.”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“If the Roman Republic is an example at all, citizens and leaders will realize that those decision makers will base their decisions on particular interests and advantages they see for what James Madison called a “faction.”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“What remains under consideration is how Cincinnatus, the early Republic, and the other examples, cultures, and structures of governance will be considered in future decisions of how human beings will live in a globally connected commercial, technological, and cultural world.”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“Second, the age in which we live is one of transitions, an age which in some ways is unparalleled in history, but in other ways is strikingly similar to the successful transition of fledgling Rome from a monarchy to the longest lasting republic in the history of the word.”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy

“People living in democratic republics should know not only of its origins but also of the imperfect democratic struggle it spawned. Such appreciation might alleviate the taking of one’s way of life for granted.”
― Michael J. Hillyard, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy