A Study of the Topography and Municipal History of Praeneste by Ralph Van Deman Magoffin

Author:Ralph Van Deman Magoffin [Magoffin, Ralph Van Deman]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780384350571
Google: I4hcAQAACAAJ
Goodreads: 15237041
Publisher: Johns Hopkins Press
Published: 1908-01-15T18:32:46+00:00

PRÆNESTE AS A COLONY.

From the time of Sulla to the establishment of the monarchy, the expropriation of territory for discharged soldiers found its expression in great part in the change from Italian cities to colonies,[230] and of the colonies newly made by Sulla, Præneste was one. The misfortunes that befell Præneste, because she seemed doomed to be on the losing side in quarrels, were never more disastrously exemplified than in the punishment inflicted upon her by Sulla, because she had taken the side of Marius. Thousands of her citizens were killed (see note 220), her fortifications were thrown down, a great part of her territory was taken and given to Sulla's soldiers, who were the settlers of his new-made colony. At once the city government of Præneste changed. Instead of a senate, there was now a decuria (decuriones, ordo); instead of prætors, duovirs with judicial powers (iure dicundo), in short, the regular governmental officialdom for a Roman colony. The city offices were filled partly by the new colonists, and the new government which was forced upon her was so thoroughly established, that Præneste remained a colony as long as her history can be traced in the inscriptions. As has been said, in the time of Tiberius she got back an empty title, that of municipium, but it had been nearly forgotten again by Hadrian's time.

There are several unanswered questions which arise at this point. What was the distribution of offices in the colony after its foundation; what regulation, if any, was there as to the proportion of officials to the new make up of the population; and what and who were the quinquennial duovirs? From the proportionately large fragments of municipal fasti left from Præneste it will be possible to reach some conclusions that may be of future value.

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