Editing Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus (section)

===Second dictatorship===

[[File:Domenico Beccafumi 010.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Domenico Beccafumi|Beccafumi]]'s ''Ahala, Master of the Horse, Presents the Dead Maelius to Cincinnatus'', a fresco in [[Siena]]'s [[Palazzo Pubblico|Public Palace]]]]

On the nomination of his brother or nephew [[Titus Quinctius Capitolinus Barbatus]], Cincinnatus came out of retirement for a second term as dictator in 439{{nbsp}}BC to deal with the feared plot of the wealthy plebeian [[Spurius Maelius]] to buy the loyalty of the poor and establish himself as king over Rome. Cincinnatus named [[Gaius Servilius Ahala|C. Servilius Ahala]] his [[Master of the Horse|master of the horse]] and directed him to bring Spurius Maelius before him. He and the other patricians then garrisoned the Capitoline Hill and other strongholds around the city.
Maelius fended off Ahala's officer with a butcher's knife and fled into a crowd. Ahala led a band of patricians into the crowd and killed him during his flight. With the crisis resolved, Cincinnatus again resigned his commission, having served 21 days (Ahala was later brought to trial for exceeding his commission and accepted voluntary exile).{{sfnp|''AC''|1879}} Various aspects of the story are connected with spurious [[etiological myth|etiological legends]] and it may have no more connection to the dictator of 458{{nbsp}}BC than the fact that the Cincinnatus of 439{{nbsp}}BC was a member of the same clan.{{sfnp|Forsythe|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=aEfvR1Qcd0gC&pg=PA240 240]}}