y which had made Praeneste a stronghold
against the power of Rome.

There are a great many reasons why Praeneste offers the best
opportunity for a study of the municipal officers of a town of the Latin
league. She kept a practical autonomy longer than any other of the
league towns with the exception of Tibur, but she has a much more varied
history than Tibur. The inscriptions of Praeneste offer especial
advantages, because they are numerous and cover a wide range. The great
number of the old pigne inscriptions gives a better list of names of the
citizens of the second century B.C. and earlier than can be found in any
other Latin town.[171] Praeneste also has more municipal fasti preserved
than any other city, and this fact alone is sufficient reason for a
study of municipal officers. In fact, the position which Praeneste held
during the rise and fall of the Latin League has distinct differences
from that of any other town in the confederation, and these differences
are to be seen in every stage of her history, whether as an ally, a
municipium, or a colonia.

As an ally of Rome, Praeneste did not have a curtailed treaty as did
Alba Longa,[172] but one on equal terms (foedus aequum), such as was
accorded to a sovereign state. This is proved by the right of exile
which both Praeneste and Tibur still retained until as late as 90
B.C.[173]

As a municipium, the rights of Praeneste were shared by only one other
city in the league. She was not a municipium which, like Lanuvium and
Tusculum,[174] kept a separate state, but whose citizens, although
called Roman citizens, were without right to vote, nor, on the other
hand, was she in the class of municipia of which Aricia is a type, towns
which had no vote in Rome, but were governed from there like a city
ward.[175] Praeneste, on the contrary, belonged to yet a third class.
This was the most favored class of all; in fact, equality was implicit
in the agreement with Rome, which was to the effect that when these
cities joined the Roman state, the inhabitants were to be, first of all,
citizens of their own states.[176] Praeneste shared this extraordinary
agreement with Rome with but one other Latin city, Tibur. The question
whether or not Praeneste was ever a municipium in the technical and
constitutional sense of the word is apart from the present discussion,
and will be taken up later.[177]

As a colony, Praeneste has a different history from that of any other of
the colonies