A Study of the Topography and Municipal History of Praeneste Part 5

PRAENESTE 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, Praeneste was one. The misfortunes that befell Praeneste, 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 63), 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 Praeneste changed. Instead of a senate, there was now a decuria (decuriones, ordo); instead of praetors, 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 Praeneste 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 t.i.tle, 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 munic.i.p.al fasti left from Praeneste it will be possible to reach some conclusions that may be of future value.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF OFFICES.

The beginning of this question comes from a pa.s.sage in Cicero,[231]

which says that the Sullan colonists in Pompeii were preferred in the offices, and had a status of citizens.h.i.+p better than that of the old inhabitants of the city. Such a state of affairs might also seem natural in a colony which had just been deprived of one third of its land, and had had forced upon it as citizens a troop of soldiers who naturally would desire to keep the city offices as far as possible in their own control.[232] Dessau thinks that because this unequal state of citizens.h.i.+p was found in Pompeii, which was a colony of Sulla's, it must have been found also in Praeneste, another of his colonies.[233]

Before entering into the question of whether or not this can be proved, it will be well to mention three probable reasons why Dessau is wrong in his contention. The first, an argumentum ex silentio, is that if there was trouble in Pompeii between the old inhabitants and the new colonists then the same would have been true in Praeneste! As it was so close to Rome, however, the trouble would have been much better known, and certainly Cicero would not have lost a chance to bring the state of affairs at Praeneste also into a comparison. Second, the great pains Sulla took to rebuild the walls of Praeneste, to lay out a new forum, and especially to make such an extensive enlargement and so many repairs of the temple of Fortuna Primigenia, show that his efforts were not entirely to please his new colonists, but just as much to try to defer to the wishes and civic pride of the old settlers. Third, the fact that a great many of the old inhabitants were left, despite the great slaughter at the capture of the city, is shown by the frequent recurrence in later inscriptions of the ancient names of the city, and by the fact that within twenty years the property of the soldier colonists had been bought up,[234] and the soldiers had died, or had moved to town, or reenlisted for foreign service. Had there been much trouble between the colonists and the old inhabitants, or had the colonists taken all the offices, in either case they would not have been so ready to part with their land, which was a sort of patent to citizens.h.i.+p.

It is possible now to push the inquiry a point further. Dessau has already seen[235] that in the time of Augustus members of the old families were again in possession of many munic.i.p.al offices, but he thinks the Praenestines did not have as good munic.i.p.al rights as the colonists in the years following the establishment of the colony. There are six inscriptions[236] which contain lists more or less fragmentary of the magistrates of Praeneste, the duovirs, the aediles, and the quaestors. Two of these inscriptions can be dated within a few years, for they show the election of Germanicus and Drusus Caesar, and of Nero and Drusus, the sons of Germanicus, to the quinquennial duovirate.[237]

Two others[81] are certainly pieces of the same fasti because of several peculiarities,[239] and one other, a fragment, belongs to still another calendar.[240] It will first be necessary to show that these last-mentioned inscriptions can be referred to some time not much later than the founding of the colony at Praeneste by Sulla, before any use can be made of the names in the list to prove anything about the early distribution of officers in the colony. Two of these inscriptions[238]

should be placed, I think, very early in the annals of the colony. They show a list of munic.i.p.al officers whose names, with a single exception, which will be accounted for later, have only praenomen and nomen, a way of writing names which was common to the earlier inhabitants of Praeneste, and which seems to have made itself felt here in the names of the colonists.[241] Again, from the fact that in the only place in the inscriptions where the quinquennials.h.i.+p is mentioned, it is the simple term, without the prefixed duoviri. In the later inscriptions from imperial times,[80] both forms are found, while in the year 31 A.D. in the munic.i.p.al fasti of Nola[242] are found II vir(i) iter(um) q(uinquennales), and in 29 B.C. in the fasti from Venusia,[243]

officials with the same t.i.tle, duoviri quinquennales, which show that the officers of the year in which the census was taken were given both t.i.tles. Marquardt makes this a proof that the quinquennial t.i.tle shows nothing more than a function of the regular duovir.[244] It is certain too that after the pa.s.sage of the lex Iulia in 45 B.C., that the census was taken in the Italian towns at the same time as in Rome, and the reports sent to the censor in Rome.[245] This duty was performed by the duovirs with quinquennial power, also often called censorial power.[246]

The inscriptions under consideration, then, would seem to date certainly before 49 B.C.

Another reason for placing these inscriptions in the very early days of the colony is derived from the use of names. In this list of officials[247] there is a duovir by the name of P. Cornelius, and another whose name is lost except for the cognomen, Dolabella, but he can be no other than a Cornelius, for this cognomen belongs to that family.[248] Early in the life of the colony, immediately after its settlement, during the repairs and rebuilding of the city's monuments,[249] while the soldiers from Sulla's army were the new citizens of the town, would be the time to look for men in the city offices whose election would have been due to Sulla, or would at least appear to have been a compliment to him. Sulla was one of the most famous of the family of the Cornelii, and men of the gens Cornelia might well have expected preferment during the early years of the colony. That such was the case is shown here by the recurrence of the name Cornelius in the list of munic.i.p.al officers in two succeeding years. Now if the name "Cornelia" grew to be a name in great disfavor in Praeneste, the reason would be plain enough. The destruction of the town, the loss of its ancient liberties, and the change in its government, are more than enough to a.s.sure hatred of the man who had been the cause of the disasters. And there is proof too that the Praenestines did keep a lasting dislike to the name "Cornelia." There are many inscriptions of Praeneste which show the names (nomina) Aelia, Antonia, Aurelia, Claudia, Flavia, Iulia, Iunia, Marcia, Petronia, Valeria, among others, but besides the two Cornelii in this inscription under consideration, and one other[250] mentioned in the fragment above (see note 83), there are practically no people of that name found in Praeneste,[251] and the name is frequent enough in other towns of the old Latin league. From these reasons, namely, the way in which only praenomina and nomina are used, the simple, earlier use of quinquennalis, and especially the appearance of the name Cornelius here, and never again until in the late empire, it follows that the names of the munic.i.p.al officers of Praeneste given in these inscriptions certainly date between 81 and 50 B.C.[252]

THE REGULATIONS ABOUT OFFICIALS.

The question now arises whether the new colonists had better rights legally than the old citizens, and whether they had the majority of votes and elected city officers from their own number. The inscriptions with which we have to deal are both fragments of lists of city officers, and in the longer of the two, one gives the officers for four years, the corresponding column for two years and part of a third. A Dolabella, who belongs to the gens Cornelia, as we have seen, heads the list as duovir. The aedile for the same year is a certain Rotanius.[253] This name is not found in the sepulchral inscriptions of the city of Rome, nor in the inscriptions of Praeneste except in this one instance. This man is certainly one of the new colonists, and probably a soldier from North Italy.[254] Both the quaestors of the same year are given. They are M. Samiarius and Q. Flavius. Samiarius is one of the famous old names of Praeneste.[255] In the same way, the duovirs of the next year, C. Messienus and P. Cornelius, belong, the one to Praeneste, the other to the colonists,[256] and just such an arrangement is also found in the aediles, s.e.x. Caesius being a Praenestine[257], L. Na.s.sius a colonist. Q. Caleius and C. Sertorius, the quaestors of the same year, do not appear in the inscriptions of Praeneste except here, and it is impossible to say more than that Sertorius is a good Roman name, and Caleius a good north Italian one.[258] C. Salvius and T. Lucretius, duovirs for the next year, the recurrence of Salvius in another inscription,[259] L. Curtius and C. Vibius, the aediles,--Statiolenus and C. Ca.s.sius, the quaestors, show the same phenomenon, for it seems quite possible from other inscriptional evidence to claim Salvius, Vibius,[260] and Statiolenus[261] as men from the old families of Praeneste. The quinquennalis for the next year, M. Petronius, has a name too widely prevalent to allow any certainty as to his native place, but the nomen Petronia and Ptronia is an old name in Praeneste.[262] In the second column of the inscription, although the majority of the names there seem to belong to the new colonists, as those in the first column do to the old settlers, there are two names, Q. Arrasidius and T.

Apponius, which do not make for the argument either way.[263] In the smaller fragment there are but six names: M. Dec.u.mius and L.

Ferlidius, C. Paccius and C. Ninn(ius), C. Albinius and s.e.x. Capivas, but from these one gets only good probabilities. The nomen Dec.u.mia is well attested in Praeneste before the time of Sulla.[264] In fact the same name, M. Dec.u.mius, is among the old pigne inscriptions.[265] Paccia has been found this past year in Praenestine territory, and may well be an old Praenestine name, for the inscriptions of a family of the name Paccia have come to light at Gallicano.[266] Capivas is at least not a Roman name,[267] but from its scarcity in other places can as well be one of the names that are so frequent in Praeneste, which show Etruscan or Sabine formation, and which prove that before Sulla's time the city had a great many inhabitants who had come from Etruria and from back in the Sabine mountains. Ninnius[268] is a name not found elsewhere in the Latian towns, but the name belonged to the n.o.bility near Capua,[269] and is found also in Pompeii[270] and Puteoli.[271] It seems a fair supposition to make at the outset, as we have seen that various writers on Praeneste have done, that the new colonists would try to keep the highest office to themselves, at any rate, particularly the duovirate.

But a study of the names, as has been the case with the less important officers, fails even to bear this out.[272] These lists of munic.i.p.al officers show a number of names that belong with certainty to the older families of Praeneste, and thus warrant the statement that the colonists did not have better rights than the old settlers, and that not even in the duovirate, which held an effective check (maior potestas)[273] on the aediles and quaestors, can the names of the new colonists be shown to outnumber or take the place of the old settlers.

THE QUINQUENNALES.

There remains yet the question in regard to the men who filled the quinquennial office. We know that whether the officials of the munic.i.p.al governments were praetors, aediles, duovirs, or quattuorvirs, at intervals of five years their t.i.tles either were quinquennales,[274] or had that added to them, and that this t.i.tle implied censorial duties.[275] It has also been shown that after 46 B.C. the lex Iulia compelled the census in the various Roman towns to be taken by the proper officers in the same year that it was done in Rome. This implies that the taking of the census had been so well established a custom that it was a long time before Rome itself had cared to enact a law which changed the year of census taking in those towns which had not of their own volition made their census contemporaneous with that in Rome.

That the duration of the quinquennial office was one year is certain,[276] that it was eponymous is also sure,[277] but whether the officers who performed these duties every five years did so in addition to holding the highest office of the year, or in place of that honor, is a question not at all satisfactorily answered. That is, were the men who held the quinquennial office the men who would in all probability have stood for the duovirate in the regular succession of advance in the round of offices (cursus honorum), or did the government at Rome in some way, either directly or indirectly, name the men for the highest office in that particular year when the census was to be taken?

That is, again, were quinquennales elected as the other city officials were, or were they appointed by Rome, or were they merely designated by Rome, and then elected in the proper and regular way by the citizens of the towns?

At first glance it seems most natural to suppose that Rome would want exact returns from the census, and might for that reason try to dictate the men who were to take it, for on the census had been based always the military taxes, contingents, etc.[278] The first necessary inquiry is whether the quinquennales were men who previously had held office as quaestors or aediles, and the best place to begin such a search is in the munic.i.p.al calendars (fasti magistratuum munic.i.p.alium), which give the city officials with their rank.

There are fragments left of several munic.i.p.al fasti; the one which gives the longest unbroken list is that from Venusia,[279] which gives the full list of the city officials of the years 34-29 B.C., and the aediles of 35, and both the duovirs and praetors of the first half of 28 B.C. In 29 B.C., L. Oppius and L. Livius were duoviri quinquennales. These are both good old Roman names, and stand out the more in contrast with Narius, Mestrius, Plestinus, and Fadius, the aediles and quaestors.

Neither of these quinquennales had held any office in the five preceding years at all events. One of the two quaestors of the year 33 B.C. is a L. Cornelius. The next year a L. Cornelius, with the greatest probability the same man, is praefect, and again in the year 30 he is duovir. Also in the year 32 L. Scutarius is quaestor, and in the last half of 31 is duovir. C. Geminius Niger is aedile in 30, and duovir in 28. So what we learn is that a L. Cornelius held the quaestors.h.i.+p one year, was a praefect the next, and later a regularly elected duovir; that L. Scutarius went from quaestor one year to duovir the next, without an intervening office, and but a half year of intervening time; and that C. Geminius Niger was successively aedile and duovir with a break of one year between.

The fasti of Nola[280] give the duovirs and aediles for four years, 29-32 A.D., but none of the aediles mentioned rose to the duovirate within the years given. Nor do we get any help from the fasti of Interamna Lirenatis[281] or Ostia,[282] so the only other calendar we have to deal with is the one from Praeneste, the fragments of which have been partially discussed above.

The text of that piece[283] which dates from the first years of Tiberius' reign is so uncertain that one gets little information from it. But certainly the M. Petronius Rufus who is praefect for Drusus Caesar is the same as the Petronius Rufus who in another place is duovir. The name of C. Dindius appears twice also, once with the office of aedile, but two years later seemingly as aedile again, which must be a mistake. M. Cominius Ba.s.sus is made quinquennalis by order of the senate, and also made praefect for Germanicus and Drusus Caesar in their quinquennial year. He is not found in any other inscription, and is otherwise unknown.[284] The only other men who attained the quinquennial rank in Praeneste were M. Petronius,[285] and some man with the cognomen Minus,[286] neither of whom appears anywhere else. A man with the cognomen Sedatus is quaestor in one year, and without holding other office is made praefect to the sons of Germanicus, Nero and Drusus, who were nominated quinquennales two years later.[287] There is no positive proof in any of the fasti that any quinquennalis was elected from one of the lower magistrates. There is proof that duovirs were elected, who had been aediles or quaestors. Also it has been shown that in two cases men who had been quaestors were made praefects, that is, appointees of people who had been nominated quinquennales as an honor, and who had at once appointed praefects to carry out their duties.

Another question of importance rises here. Who were the quinquennales?

They were not always inhabitants of the city to the office of which they had been nominated, as has been shown in the cases of Drusus and Germanicus Caesar, and Nero and Drusus the sons of Germanicus, nominated or elected quinquennales at Praeneste, and represented in both cases by praefects appointed by them.[288]

From Ostia comes an inscription which was set up by the grain measurers'

union to Q. Petronius Q.f. Melior, etc.,[289] praetor of a small town some ten miles from Ostia, and also quattuorvir quinquennalis of Faesulae, a town above Florence, which seems to show that he was sent to Faesulae as a quinquennalis, for the honor which he had held previously was that of praetor in Laurentum.

At Tibur, in Hadrian's time, a L. Minicius L.f. Gal. Natalis Quadromius Verus, who had held offices previously in Africa, in Moesia, and in Britain, was made quinquennalis maximi exempli. It seems certain that he was not a resident of Tibur, and since he was not appointed as praefect by Hadrian, it seems quite reasonable to think that either the emperor had a right to name a quinquennalis, or that he was asked to name one,[290] when one remembers the proximity of Hadrian's great villa, and the deference the people of Tibur showed the emperor. There is also in Tibur an inscription to a certain Q. Pompeius Senecio, etc.--(the man had no less than thirty-eight names), who was an officer in Asia in 169 A.D., a praefect of the Latin games (praefectus feriarum Latinarum), then later a quinquennalis of Tibur, after which he was made patron of the city (patronus municipii).[291] A Roman knight, C. Aemilius Antoninus, was first quinquennalis, then patronus municipii at Tibur.[292]

N. Cluvius M'. f.[293] was a quattuorvir at Caudium, a duovir at Nola, and a quattuorvir quinquennalis at Capua, which again shows that a quinquennalis need not have been an official previously in the town in which he held the quinquennial office.

C. Maenius C.f. Ba.s.sus[294] was aedile and quattuorvir at Herculaneum and then after holding the tribunes.h.i.+p of a legion is found next at Praeneste as a quinquennalis.

M. Vettius M.f. Valens[295] is called in an inscription duovir quinquennalis of the emperor Trajan, which shows not an appointment from the emperor in his place, for that would have been as a praefect, but rather that the emperor had nominated him, as an imperial right. This man held a number of priestly offices, was patron of the colony of Ariminum, and is called optimus civis.

Another inscription shows plainly that a man who had been quinquennalis in his own home town was later made quinquennalis in a colony founded by Augustus, Hispellum.[296] This man, C. Alfius, was probably nominated quinquennalis by the emperor.

C. Pompilius Cerialis,[297] who seems to have held only one other office, that of praefect to Drusus Caesar in an army legion, was duovir iure dicundo quinquennalis in Volaterrae.

M. Oppius Capito was not only quinquennalis twice at Auximum, patron of that and another colony, but he was patron of the municipium of Numana, and also quinquennalis.[298]

Q. Octavius L.f. Sagitta was twice quinquennalis at Superaequum, and held no other offices.[299]

Again, particularly worthy of notice is the fact that when L. Septimius L.f. Calvus, who had been aedile and quattuorvir at Teate Marrucinorum, was given the quinquennial rights, it was of such importance that it needed especial mention, and that such mention was made by a decree of the city senate,[300] shows clearly that such a method of getting a quinquennalis was out of the ordinary.

M. Nasellius Sabinus of Beneventum[301] has the t.i.tle Augustalis duovir quinquennalis, and no other t.i.tle but that of praefect of a cohort.

C. Egnatius Marus of Venusia was flamen of the emperor Tiberius, pontifex, and praefectus fabrum, and three times duovir quinquennalis, which seems to show a deference to a man who was the priest of the emperor, and seems to preclude an election by the citizens after a regular term of other offices.[302]

Q. Laronius was a quinquennalis at Vibo Valentia by order of the senate, which again shows the irregularity of the choice.[303]

M. Traesius Faustus was quinquennalis of Potentia, but died an inhabitant of Atinae in Lucania.[304]

M. Alleius Luccius Libella, who was aedile and duovir in Pompeii,[305]

was not elected quinquennalis, but made praefectus quinquennalis, which implies appointment.

M. Holconius Celer was a priest of Augustus, and with no previous city offices is mentioned as quinquennalis-elect, which can perhaps as well mean nominated by the emperor, as designated by the popular vote.[306]

P. s.e.xtilius Rufus,[307] aedile twice in Nola, is quinquennalis in Pompeii. As he was chosen by the old inhabitants of Nola to their senate, this would show that he belonged probably to the new settlers in the colony introduced by Augustus, and for some reason was called over also to Pompeii to take the quinquennial office.

L. Aufellius Rufus at Cales was advanced from the position of primipilus of a legion to that of quinquennalis, without having held any other city offices, but he was flamen of the deified emperor (Divus Augustus), and patron of the city.[308]

M. Barronius Sura went directly to quinquennalis without being aedile or quaestor, in Aquinum.[309]

Q. Decius Saturninus was a quattuorvir at Verona, but a quinquennalis at Aquinum.[310]

The quinquennial year seems to have been the year in which matters of consequence were more likely to be done than at other times.

In 166 A.D. in Ostia a dedication was of importance enough to have the names of both the consuls of the year and the duoviri quinquennales at the head of the inscription.[311]

The year that C. Cuperius and C. Arrius were quinquennales with censorial power (II vir c.p.q.) in Ostia, there was a dedication of some importance in connection with a tree that had been struck by lightning.[312]

In Gabii a decree in honor of the house of Domitia Augusta was pa.s.sed in the year when there were quinquennales.[313]

In addition to the fact that the emperors were sometimes chosen quinquennales, the consuls were too. M'. Acilius Glabrio, consul ordinarius of 152 A.D., was made patron of Tibur and quinquennalis designatus.[314]