ound, so
that escape in any direction was impossible. But before the road in the
rear was quite closed up five horsemen had managed to break out; and
these rode with all speed to Rome, where they told the senate of the
imminent danger of the consul and his army.

These tidings threw the senate into dismay. What was to be done? The
other consul was with his army in the country of the Sabines. He was at
once sent for, and hastened with all speed to Rome. Here a consultation
took place, which ended in the leading senators saying, "There is only
one man who can deliver us. We must make Lucius Quinctius Master of the
People." Master of the People meant in Rome what we now mean by
Dictator,--that is, a man above the law, an autocrat supreme. What
service this unambitious tiller of the ground had previously done for
Rome to make him worthy of this distinction we are not told, but it is
evident that he was looked upon as the man of highest wisdom and
soldiership in Rome.

Caius Nautius, the consul, appointed Cincinnatus to this high office, as
he alone was privileged to do, and then hastened back to his army. Early
the next morning deputies from the senate sought the farm of the new
dictator, to apprise him of the honor conferred on him. Early as it was,
Cincinnatus was already at work in his fields. He was without his toga,
or cloak, and vigorously digging in the ground with his spade, never
dreaming that he, a simple husbandman, had been chosen to save a state.

"We bring you a message from the senate," said the deputies. "You must
put on your cloak to receive it with the fitting respect."

"Has evil befallen the state?" asked the farmer, as he bade his wife to
bring him his cloak. When he had put it on he returned to the deputies.

"Hail to you, Lucius Quinctius!" they now said. "The senate has declared
you Master of the People, and have sent us to call you to the city; for
the consul and the army in the country of the AEquians are in imminent
danger."

Without further words, Cincinnatus accompanied them to the boat in which
they had crossed the Tiber, and was rowed in it to the city. As he left
the boat he was met by a deputation consisting of his three sons, his
kinsmen and friends, and many of the senators of Rome. They received him
with the highest honor, and led him in great state to his city
residence, the twenty-four lictors walking before him, with their rods
and axes, while a great multitude of the people crow