A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

752 CINCINNATUS.
with orders to take certain persons prisoners; but
secret instructions were given to some young men
who were sent with him, and the choice of whom
was so managed as not to excite his suspicions.
This step was taken because the ephors were ignorant of the number of the conspirators. Accordingly, Cinadon was seized and tortured: letters
were sent to Sparta mentioning the persons whom
he had denounced as his confederates; and it is a
remarkable proof of the formidable character of the
conspiracy that among them was Tisamenus, the
soothsayer, a descendant of Tisamenus the Eleian,
who had been admitted to the full franchise. (Herod. ix. 33.) Cinadon was then brought to Sparta,
and he and the other conspirators were led in irons
through the streets, and scourged as they went,
and so they were put to death. (Xen. Hell. iii. 3,
~5 4-11; Aristot. Polit. v. 6. ~ 2.) [P. S.]
CINAETHON (KcvaiwuV), of Lacedaemon, one
of the most fertile of the Cyclic poets, is placed by
Eusebius (Chron. 01. 3. 4) in B. c. 765. He was
the author of: 1. Telegonia (Tsyjyovia), which
gave the history of Odysseus from the point where
the Odyssey breaks off to his death. (Euseb.
1. c.) 2. Genealogies, which are frequently referred to by Pausanias (ii. 3. ~ 7, 18. ~ 5, iv. 2.
~ 1, viii. 53. ~ 2; comp. Schol. ad Homn. II. iii.
175), and which must consequently have been extant in A. D. 175. 3. feracleia ('HpadcAeia), containing an account of the adventures of Heracles.
(Schol. ad Apoll. Rhiod. i. 1357.) 4. Oedipodiac
(OS-asroe5a), the adventures of Oedipus, is ascribed to Cinaethon in an ancient inscription (Heeren,
in Bibl. d. alien Literat. und Kunst, vol. iv. p. 57),
but other authorities speak of the author as uncertain. (Paus. ix. 5. ~ 5; Schol. ad Eurip.
Phoen. 1760.) 5. The Little Iliad ('IAids rtKcpd)
was also attributed by some to Cinaethon. (Schol.
Vat. ad Eur. Troad. 822; comp. Welcker, Epischier Cyclus, p. 243.)
CINAETHUS or CYNAETHUS (KivacOos or
Kv'vaeOos), of Chios, a rhapsodist, who was generally supposed by the ancients to have been the
author of the Homeric hymn to Apollo. He is
said to have lived about the 69th Olympiad (B. c.
504), and to have been the first rhapsodist of the
Homeric poems at Syracuse. (Schol. ad Pind.
Nem. ii. 1.) This date, however, is much too low,
as the Sicilians were acquainted with the Homeric
poems long before. Welcker (Epischer Cyclus, p.
243) therefore proposes to read Kaa- TnsV s'KTrrVY '
T' )v evidr7Tv 'OA. instead of Karad rnv ErnKOerO-reV
e'vvidr 'OA., and places him about B. c. 750.
Cinaethus is charged by Eustathius (ad II. i. p. 16,
ed. Polit.) with having interpolated the Homeric
poems. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. i. p. 508.)
CI'NCIA GENS, plebeian, of small importance.
None of its members ever obtained the consulship:
the first Cincius who gained any of the higher
offices of the state was L. Cincius Alimentus,
praetor in B. c. 209. The only cognomen of this
gens is ALIMENTUS: those who occur without a
surname are given under CINCIus..
CINCINNA'TUS, the name of a patrician
family of the Quinctia gens. Some of the Quinctii,
mentioned without a surname, probably belonged
to this family.
1. L. QUINCTIus L. F. L. N. CINCINNATUS,
plays a conspicuous part in the civil and military
transactions of the period in which hie lived. He
particularly distinguished himself as a violent oppo

CINCINNATUS.
nent of the claims of the plebeians. He was born
about B. c. 519. (Niebuhr, vol. ii. note 927.) The
story of his having been reduced to poverty by the
merciless exaction of the bail forfeited by the flight
of his son Caeso (Liv. iii. 13) has no foundation.
(Niebuhr, ii. p. 289.) In B. c. 460 he was illegally appointed consul suffectus in the room of P.
Valerius. (Liv. iii. 19; Niebuhr, ii. p. 295.) Irritated by the death of his son Caeso, he proposed a
most arbitrary attempt to oppose the enactment of
the Terentilian law, but the design was abandoned.
(Liv. iii. 20, 21.)
Two years afterwards (B. c. 458), according to
the common story, Cincinnatus was appointed dictator, in order to deliver the Roman consul and
army from the perilous position in which they had
been placed by the Aequians. (Plin. H. N. xviii.
4; Cic. de Senect. 16, who however refers the story
to his second dictatorship.) The story of the manner in which he effected this is given by Livy (iii.
26-29). The inconsistencies and impossibilities
in the legend have been pointed out by Niebuhr
(ii. pp. 266-269), who is inclined to regard it as
altogether fabulous. During his dictatorship, in
defiance of the tribunes, he held the comitia for
the trial of Volscius, through whose evidence his
son Caeso had been condemned, and who was
charged with false witness. The accused went
into voluntary exile. (Dion. Exc. de Sent. 22, p.
151, ed. R.; Zonar. vii. 15.) In B. c. 450 Cincinnatus was an unsuccessful candidate for the
office of decemvir. (Liv. iii. 35.) In the disputes
about the law for opening the consulship to the
plebeians, we find him the advocate of milder measures. (Liv. iv. 6.) In B. c. 439, at the age of
eighty, he was a second time appointed dictator to
oppose the alleged machinations of Spurius Maelius.
(Liv. iv. 13-15.) This is the last event recorded
of him.
2. L. QUINCTIus L. F. L. N. CINCINNATUS,
son of No. 1, was consular tribune in B. c. 438.
In the following year he was appointed master of
the horse by the dictator Aemilius Mamercus.
(Liv. iv. 16, 17; Diod. xii. 38.) In 425 he was
a second time elected consular tribune (Liv. iv.
35; Diod. xii. 81), and, according to Livy (iv. 44),
a third time in 420.
3. T. QUIaCTIrs L. F. L. N. CINCINNATUS PENNUS, son of L. Cincinnatus, and son-in-law of A.
Postumius Tubertus, was consul in B. c. 431. In
this year the Aequians and Volscians renewed
their attacks, and encamped on mount Algidus.
The danger was so pressing, that it was resolved
to appoint a dictator. The opposition of the consuls was overruled; and Cincinnatus, to whose lot
it fell to do so, named as dictator his father-in-law.
Cincinnatus and Postumius then led separate armies against the enemy, who sustained a severe
defeat. (Liv. iv. 26-29.) Cincinnatus was again
consul in 428 (Liv. iv. 30; Diod. xii. 75) and
consular tribune in 426. (Liv. iv. 31; Diod. xii.
80.) With two of his colleagues he commanded against the Veientians, but sustained a defeat, on which Aemilius Mamercus was appointed dictator. In the capacity of legatus he aided
the dictator in the victory which he gained over
the Veientians and Fidenatians. Having been
subsequently brought to trial for his ill-conduct
against the Veientians, he was acquitted on the
ground of his services under the dictators, Postumius and Aemilius. (Liv. iv. 41.)