one of the towns in the Alban Hills, and to Castrum Novum Tiburtinum, which may well be Corcolle.^[9]

The natural limits of the ancient city proper can hardly be mistaken. The city included not only the arx and that portion of the southern slope of the mountain which was walled in, but also a level piece of fertile ground below the city, across the present Via degli Arconi. This piece of flat land has an area about six hundred yards square, the natural boundaries of which are: on the west, the deep bed of the watercourse spanned by the Ponte dei Sardoni; on the east, the cut over which is built the Ponte dell' Ospedalato, and on the south, the depression running parallel to the Via degli Arconi, and containing the modern road from S. Rocco to Cave.

From the natural limits of the town itself we now pass to what would seem to have been the extent of territory dependent upon her. The strongest argument of this discussion is based upon the natural configuration of the land. To the west, the domain of Præneste certainly followed those long fertile ridges accessible only from Præneste. First, and most important, it extended along the very wide ridge known as Le Tende and Le Colonnelle which stretches down toward Gallicano. Some distance above that town it splits, one half, under the name of Colle S. Rocco, running out to the point on which Gallicano is situated, and the other, as the Colle Caipoli, reaching farther out into the Campagna. Along and across this ridge ran several ancient roads.^[10] With the combination of fertile ground well situated, in a position farthest away from all hostile attack, and a location not only in plain sight from the citadel of Præneste, but also between Præneste and her closest friend and ally, Tibur, it is certain that in this ridge we have one of the most favored and valuable of Præneste's possessions, and quite as certain that Gallicano, probably the ancient Pedum,^[11] was one of the towns which were dependent allies of Præneste. It was along this ridge too that probably the earlier, and certainly the more intimate communication between Præneste and Tibur passed, for of the three possible routes, this was both the nearest and safest.^[12]

The second ridge, called Colle di Pastore as far as the Gallicano cut, and Colle Collafri beyond it, along which for four miles runs the Via Prænestina, undoubtedly belonged to the domain of Præneste.^[13] But it was not so important a piece of property as the ridges on either side, for it is much narrower, and it had no town at its end. There was probably always a road out this ridge, as is shown by the presence of the later Via Prænestina, but that there was no town at the end of the ridge is well proved by the fact that Ashby finds no remains there which give evidence of one. Then, too, we have plain enough proof of general unfitness for a town. In the first place the ridge runs oil into the junction of two roadless valleys, there is not much fertile land back of where the town site would have been, but above all, however, it is certain that the Via Prænestina was an officially made Roman road, and did not occupy anything more than a previous track of little consequence. This is shown by the absence of tombs of the early necropolis style along this road.

The next ridge must always have been one of the most important, for from above Cavamonte as far as Passerano, at the bottom of the ridge on the side toward Rome, connecting with the highway which was the later Via Latina, ran the main road through Zagarolo, Passerano, Corcolle, on to Tibur and the north.^[14] As this was the other of the two great roads which ran to the north without getting out on the Roman Campagna, it is certain that Præneste considered it in her territory, and probably kept the travel well in hand. With dependent towns at Zagarolo and Passerano, which are several miles distant from each other, there must have been at least one more town between them, to guard the road against attack from Tusculum or Gabii. The fact that the Via Prænestina later cut the Colle del Pero-Colle Seloa just below a point where an ancient road ascends the ridge to a place well adapted for a town, and where there are some remains,^[15] seems to prove the supposition, and to locate another of the dependent cities of Præneste.

That the next ridge, the one on which Zagarolo is situated, was also part of Præneste's territory, aside from the fact that it has always been part of the diocese of Præneste, is clearly shown by the topography of the district. The only easy access to Zagarolo is from Palestrina, and although the town itself cannot be seen from the mountain of Præneste, nevertheless the approach to it along the ridge is clearly visible.

The country south and in front of Præneste spreads out more like a solid plain for a mile or so before splitting off into the ridges which are so characteristic of the neighborhood. East of the ridge on which Zagarolo stands, and running nearly at right angles to it, is a piece of territory along which runs the present road (the Omata di Palestrina) to the Palestrina railroad station, and which as far as the cross valley at Colle dell'Aquila, is incontestably Prænestine domain.

But the territory which most certainly belonged to Præneste, and which was at once the most valuable and the oldest of her possessions is the wide ridge now known as the Vigne di Loreto, along which runs the road to Marcigliano.^[16] Not only does this ridge lie most closely bound to Præneste by nature, but it leads directly toward Velitræ, her most advantageous ally. Tibur was perhaps always Præneste's closest and most loyal ally, but the alliance with her had not the same opportunity for mutual advantage as one with Velitræ, because each of these towns commanded the territory the other wished to know most about, and both together could draw across the upper Trerus valley a tight line which was of the utmost importance from a strategic point of view. These two facts would in themselves be a satisfactory proof that this ridge was Præneste's first expansion and most important acquisition, but there is proof other than topographical and argumentative.

At the head of this ridge in la Colombella, along the road leading to Marcigliano from the little church of