# 25. Concerning the Poverty of Cincinnatus and of many other Roman Citizens

We have maintained elsewhere that the most useful institution to have in a state which enjoys freedoma is one that keeps the citizens poor. Though in Rome it is not clear which institution had this effect, since the Agrarian law, especially, encountered a good deal of opposition, yet we have evidence that for four hundred years from the time the city was built, there was a very great deal of poverty there. Nor can one think of any institution which tended more to produce this effect than the knowledge that poverty did not bar you from any office or from any honour, and that virtue was sought out no matter in whose house it dwelt. This way of life made riches less desirable.

This is obvious. For, when Minucius was consul, and his army was beset on all sides by the Aequi, Rome was so terror-stricken lest the army should be lost, that it had recourse to the appointment of a dictator, its last resource in times of great distress. The appointment was given to Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus, who was found in his little farm ploughing with his own hands. This incident is enshrined in a golden saying of Titus Livy, who says: ‘It is worth while recording it for the sake of those who in comparison with riches despise all human values, and have not much use for honour or virtue unless it brings them wealth.’ Cincinnatus was ploughing his little farm which was not more than four half-acres in extent, when messengers from the senate in Rome came to tell him of his appointment to the dictatorship, and to point out in what danger the Roman republic stood. Whereupon he put on his toga, came to Rome, got together an army, and went to the rescue of Minucius. Having defeated and despoiled the enemy and relieved Minucius, he was unwilling that an army which had let itself be surrounded should share in the spoils; for, he said, ‘I do not propose that you should share in booty taken from those who almost made booty of you.’ He then deprived Minucius of the consulship, made him legate, and said to him, ‘You will keep this rank till you have learnt how to be a consul.’ He had also made Lucius Tarquinius his master of horse, though he was so poor that he fought on foot.

Honour, then, was paid to poverty in Rome, as has been said; for a man as wise and valiant as Cincinnatus thought four half-acres of land sufficient to live on. There was still the same degree of poverty at the time of Marcus Regulus, for, when he was with his army in Africa, he asked leave of the senate to return to look after his farm, which his labourers were neglecting. And here two things especially are noteworthy; first, poverty, and how content people were with it, and how the citizens thought it sufficient to win honours in a war, and to leave all the profits to the public; for, if Regulus had been contemplating enrichment as the result of the war, he would not have bothered about his fields being neglected. The second point to be considered is the magnanimity of these citizens whose greatness of spirit when in command of an army rose above that of any prince who had respect neither for kings nor republics, and were alarmed and frightened at nothing; but, when they returned to private life, they became frugal, humble, careful of their little properties, obedient to the magistrates, and respectful to their superiors. So much so that it seems incredible that one and the same mind should have undergone so great a change.

This poverty lasted to the days of Paulus Aemilius, which were the last happy days this republic enjoyed, days wherein a citizen would by his triumph bring riches to Rome, yet himself remain a poor man. And, in such high esteem was poverty still held in Paulus’ day that, when he wanted to do honour to those who had done well in the war, he gave his son-in-law a silver cup, which was the first piece of silver that had ever been in his house. I might indeed discourse at length on the advantages of poverty over riches, and how poverty brings honour to cities, provinces and religious institutions, whereas the other thing has ruined them; if it had not already been done so often by others.