a little west of south. On this latter slope is situated the
modern Palestrina, which is built on the site of the ancient Praeneste.

From the summit of the mountain, where the arx or citadel was, it
becomes clear at once why Praeneste occupied a proud and commanding
position among the towns of Latium. The city, clambering up the slope on
its terraces, occupied a notably strong position[1], and the citadel was
wholly impregnable to assault. Below and south of the city stretched
fertile land easy of access to the Praenestines, and sufficiently
distant from other strong Latin towns to be safe for regular
cultivation. Further, there is to be added to the fortunate situation
of Praeneste with regard to her own territory and that of her contiguous
dependencies, her position at a spot which almost forced upon her a wide
territorial influence, for Monte Glicestro faces exactly the wide and
deep depression between the Volscian mountains and the Alban Hills, and
is at the same time at the head of the Trerus-Liris valley. Thus
Praeneste at once commanded not only one of the passes back into the
highland country of the Aequians, but also the inland routes between
Upper and Lower Italy, the roads which made relations possible between
the Hernicans, Volscians, Samnites, and Latins. From Praeneste the
movements of Volscians and Latins, even beyond the Alban Hills and on
down in the Pontine district, could be seen, and any hostile
demonstrations could be prepared against or forestalled. In short,
Praeneste held the key to Rome from the south.

Monte Glicestro is of limestone pushed up through the tertiary crust by
volcanic forces, but the long ridges which run off to the northwest are
of lava, while the shorter and wider ones extending toward the southwest
are of tufa. These ridges are from three to seven miles in length. It is
shown either by remains of roads and foundations or (in three cases) by
the actual presence of modern towns that in antiquity the tip of almost
every one of these ridges was occupied by a city. The whole of the tufa
and lava plain that stretches out from Praeneste toward the Roman
Campagna is flat to the eye, and the towns on the tips of the ridges
seem so low that their strong military position is overlooked. The tops
of these ridges, however, are everywhere more than an hundred feet above
the valley and, in addition, their sides are very steep. Thus the towns
were practically impregnable except by an attack