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. Cassius, 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. Decumius and L.
Ferlidius, C. Paccius and C. Ninn(ius), C. Albinius and Sex. Capivas,
but from these one gets only good probabilities. The nomen Decumia is
well attested in Praeneste before the time of Sulla.[264] In fact the
same name, M. Decumius, 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 nobility 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 o