Society of the Cincinnati is an organization founded in 1783 at the Verplank house, Fishkill, New York by Revolutionary officers. The organisation was rather romantically named after Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus, a Roman farmer of the Fifth Century B.C, whom the originators of the organisation likened to George Washington, in that he was called from his fields to lead his country's army in battle. Membership was first extended mainly to the officers and their eldest sons, though a number of French officers were included. The principle of hereditary membership aroused popular jealousy. A pamphlet was published against it, the Governor of South Carolina denounced it, and the Legislatures of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania censured it. George Washington was elected the first President General of the Society in December 1783, a post he held until his death in 1799. During his presidency, in 1784 George Washington persuaded the order to abandon the hereditary feature. He was succeeded as president of the society by Alexander Hamilton.
The society is based upon the following principles:
'An Incessant Attention to preserve inviolate those exalted Rights and Liberties of Human Nature for which they have fought and bled, and without which the high Rank of a Rational Being is a Curse Instead of a Blessing.
An unalterable Determination to promote and cherish between the respective States that Union and national Honour so essentially necessary to their happiness, and the future Dignity of the American Empire
To render permanent the cordial Affection subsisting among the officers; this Spirit will dictate Brotherly Kindness in all things, and particularly extend to the most substantial Acts of Beneficence, according to the Ability of the Society, towards those Officers and their Families who unfortunately may be under the Necessity of receiving it.' Research Society of the Cincinnati
Benjamin Robert Haydon was an English painter. He was born in 1786 at Plymouth and died in 1846. He was admitted as a student to the Royal Academy in 1805 and exhibited his first picture in 1807 - Joseph and Mary Reposing (in Egypt), and his Dentatus in 1809. His Judgment of Solomon appeared in 1814. In 1815 he established a school in opposition to the Academy, an undertaking
which ended in pecuniary failure in 1823. His life was plagued with debts and he was several times in prison for debt, always complaining of injustice and neglect, finally he supposedly became deranged when he failed to be employed in decorating the new houses of parliament and he eventually committed suicide.
He was the chief English historical painter of his time, and a man of great intellectual ability generally. But he was self-willed, perverse, and devoid of tact. Of his pictures the principal are - Christ's Entry into Jerusalem, the Raising of Lazarus, the Mock Election, Chairing the Member, Pharaoh Dismissing Moses, the Burning of Rome, the Banishment of Aristides, and Quintus Curtiua Leaping into the Gulf. He left an interesting autobiography. Research Benjamin Haydon
Quintus Horatius Flaccus, commonly known as Horace, was the greatest of Latin lyric poets. He was born in 65 BC near Venusia, in southern Italy and died in 8 BC. His father was a freedman, a collector of taxes, and had purchased the farm at which his son was born. When Horace was about twelve years old his father moved with him to Rome, where he received an excellent education. At the age of eighteen he went to Athens to complete his studies.
After the assassination of Julius Caesar, Brutus came to Athens, and Horace, along with other Roman youths, joined his army. He was appointed to a military tribuneship, was present at Philippi, and on the defeat of Brutus saved himself by flight. On the proclamation of an amnesty to the vanquished Horace returned to Italy, but found his father dead, his paternal estate confiscated, and himself reduced to poverty. He was, however, enabled to purchase a clerkship in the quaestor's office, which enabled him to subsist frugally and to cultivate his poetical talent.
His poems procured him the friendship of Virgil and Varius, and to them he was indebted for his first acquaintance with Maecenas, who was the friend and confidant of Augustus Caesar, and who expended his wealth for the encouragement of literature and the arts.
Maecenas received Horace among his intimate friends, and, after some years, presented him with a small estate or farm in the Sabine country about 15 miles from Tibur (Tivoli), which was sufficient to maintain him in ease and comfort during the rest of his life. He had also a cottage at Tibur, and at Rome or one or other of these country residences the latter part of his life was spent. Although he was ultimately introduced to Augustus he never sought favours from him, and he is said to have declined an offer of the management of his private correspondence.
His works consist of four books of odes; a book of epodes or short poems, two books of satires; and two books of epistles, one of which is often cited as a separate work, under the title of Ars Poetica. The lyrics of Horace are largely based on Greek models, but the exquisite beauty of his language is all his own. It is, however, in his satires and epistles that he shows the greatest power and originality, wit and humour, gravity and gaiety, shrewdness and common sense, tender sentiment, and at times melancholy. His writings have been often translated, and into many languages. In English Pope and Swift have given free imitations of various parts of his writings. The poetical translation of Francis is well known, but is inferior to that of Sir Theodore Martin.
Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman orator, politician and writer. He was born in 106 BC at Arpinum and died in 43 BC. His family was of equestrian rank, and bis father, though living in retirement, was a friend of some of the chief public men. He received the best education available, studied philosophy and law, became familiar with Greek literature, and acquired some military knowledge from serving a campaign in the Marsic war.
At the age of twenty-five he came forward as a pleader, and having undertaken the defence of Sextus Roscius, who was accused of parricide, procured his acquittal. He visited Greece in 79 BC, conversed with the philosophers of all the schools, and profited by the instruction of the masters of oratory. Here he formed that close friendship with Atticus of which his letters furnish such interesting evidence. He also made a tour in Asia Minor and remained some time at Rhodes, where he visited the most distinguished orators and took part in their exercises.
On his return to Rome his displays of eloquence proved the value of his Grecian instruction, and he became one of the most distinguished orators in the forum. In 76 BC he was appointed quaestor of Sicily, and behaved with such justice that the Sicilians gratefully remembered him and requested that he would conduct their suit against their governor Verres. He appeared against this powerful robber, and the crimes of Verres were painted in the liveliest colours in his immortal speeches. Seven of the Verrine orations are preserved, but only two of them were delivered, and Verres went into voluntary exile.
After this suit Marcus Cicero was elected to the office of sedile, in 70 BC, became praetor in 67, and consul in 63. It was now that he succeeded in defeating the conspiracy of Catiline, after whose fall he received greater honours than had ever before been bestowed upon a Roman citizen. He was hailed as the saviour of the state and the father of his country (parens patriae), and thanksgivings in his name were voted to the gods. But Marcus Cicero's fortune had now reached the culminating point, and soon was to decline.
The Catilinarian conspirators who had been executed had not been sentenced according to law, and Marcus Cicero, as chief magistrate, was responsible for the irregularity. Publius Clodius, the tribune of the people, raised such a storm against him that he was obliged to go into exile in 58 BC.
On the fall of the Clodian faction he was recalled to Rome, but he never succeeded in regaining the influence he had once possessed. In 52 BC he became proconsul of Cilicia, a province which he administered with eminent success. As soon as his term of office had expired he returned to Rome in 49 BC, which was threatened with serious disturbances owing to the rupture between Caesar and Pompey. He espoused the cause of Pompey, but after the battle of Pharsalia he made his peace with Caesar, with whom he continued to all appearance friendly, and by whom he was kindly treated, until the assassination of the latter in 44 BC.. He now hoped to regain his political influence. The conspirators shared with him the honour of an enterprise in which no part had been assigned him; and the less he had contributed to it himself the more anxious was he to justify the deed and pursue the advantages which it offered.
Antony having taken Caesar's place, Marcus Cicero composed those admirable orations against him, delivered in 43 BC, which are known to us by the name of Philippies (after the speeches of Demosthenes against Philip of Macedon). His implacable enmity towards Antony induced him to favour young Octavianus, who professed to entertain the most friendly feelings towards him. Octavianus, however, having possessed himself of the consulate, and formed an alliance with Antony and Lepidus, Marcus Cicero was proscribed. In endeavouring to escape from Tusculum, where he was living when the news of the proscription arrived, he was overtaken and murdered by a party of soldiers; and his head and hands were publicly exhibited in the forum at Rome. He died in his sixty-fourth year, 43 BC.
Marcus Cicero's eloquence has always remained a model. After the revival of learning he was the most admired of the ancient writers; and the purity and elegance of his style will always place him in the first rank of Roman classics. His works, which are very numerous, consist of orations; philosophical, rhetorical, and moral treatises; and letters to Atticus and other friends. The life of Marcus Cicero was written by Plutarch, and there are modern lives by Middleton, Forsyth, and others. Marcus Cicero left a son of the same name by his wife Terentia. Young Marcus was born in 65 BC, was carefully educated, and distinguished himself in military service. In 30 BC Octavianus (Augustus) assumed him as his colleague in the consulship, and he was afterwards governor of Asia or Syria.
Marcus Cicero had also a daughter, Tullia, who to his great grief died in 45 BC.
Marcus Cicero's younger brother, Quintus was a man of some note both as a public character and as a writer. He was married to a sister of Atticus, and was put to death at the same time as the orator. Research Marcus Cicero
Quintus Ennius was an early Latin poet, considered by the Romans as the father of their literature. He was born in 239 BC at Rudiae, near Brundusium, and died in 169 BC. He wrote an epic, Scipio, in hexameters; Roman annals; tragedies and comedies; satires, epigrams, precepts, etc. His whole works are supposed to have been extant up to the 13th century, but nothing now remains but fragments quoted from other ancient authors. Research Quintus Ennius
Quintus Hortensius was a Roman orator. He was born in 114 BC and died in 50 BC. He held many military and civil offices, and was elected consul for the year 69 BC. In the previous year he had been engaged to defend Verres during the famous prosecution in which Cicero acted for the accusers. Hortensius continued to maintain a generous and friendly rivalry with Cicero, acknowledging his superior oratorical powers without jealousy. His speeches are all lost. Research Quintus Hortensius
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus was a Roman orator and writer. He was born in 345 and died in 405. Educated n Gaul he became leader of the pagan aristocracy in Rome and held several important offices. He argued against the anti-pagan enactments of the emperor Gratian, and as a result was banished for a time from Rome. Research Quintus Symmachus
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