Ever eager to display his knowledge of the classics, Boris Johnson couldn’t resist a little mischievous name dropping as he gave his farewell speech on the steps of 10 Downing Street
Whose name?
Lucius Quintcius Cincinnatus, better known by the mononym Cincinnatus, a Roman statesman and military leader from the 5th century BC.
What did he say?
“On the subject of bouncing around in future careers, let me say that I am now like one of those booster rockets that has fulfilled its function. I will now be gently re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down invisibly in some remote and obscure corner of the Pacific. Like Cincinnatus, I am returning to my plough.”
Translation?
“I’m going to join various other former Prime Ministers on the extremely lucrative after-dinner-speech circuit, dash off a few columns for whoever will pay me the most, lobby hard for a seat in the Lords and – watch this space, chumps – maybe gird my loins for a comeback.”
Strictly Come Dancing?
Unlikely. Have you seen him jogging? No, this is where Cincinnatus comes in. Classical scholar Mary Beard helpfully provided a little background when she tweeted: “If you are curious about Boris Johnson’s reference to Cincinnatus in his goodbye speech – he was a 5th century BC Roman politician who saved the state from an invasion, then – job done – returned to his farm (‘to his plough’)”.
Again, translation?
Here it becomes even trickier. On the one hand – the more benign reading – he may simply have meant that he stepped up to serve his country, as Cincinnatus did, and will now return to civilian life and never be heard of again. However the Westminster gossipmongers have a different take on it which is that he is planning a political comeback. You see one version of the Cincinnatus story has him returning for a second time to quell a plebian rebellion. He was, in Mary Beard’s words, quite literally “an enemy of the people.” This aspect of the allusion wasn’t lost on either satirist Armando Iannucci or broadcaster and political commentator Andrew Neil.
What did they say?
“Johnson expects to be called back,” Mr Iannucci tweeted. “Cincinnatus was recalled from his plough to become leader of Rome a second time. Someone tell the people with microphones at Downing Street.” Meanwhile Mr Neil tweeted that Mr Johnson is “enough of a classics scholar to know, in comparing himself with Cincinnatus leaving for his farm, that when the call came Cincinnatus returned to Rome … This is not the speech of a departing prime minister who necessarily thinks he’s going away forever.”
How likely is it?
Not very, though it would be popular among some people. A poll in the Daily Express just last month found 79% of respondents thought Mr Johnson should after all stay on as Prime Minister.
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