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 assure 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 municipal 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, Sex. Caesius being a Praenestine[257], L. Nassius a
colonist. Q.