Magoffin's study opens with a detailed inventory of Praeneste's physical remains: the city's walls, gates, the Porta Triumphalis, and the water supply system. The author draws heavily on inscriptions to reconstruct the urban layout, treating the Temple of Fortuna Primigenia as a central topographical anchor. The work is explicitly the first in a planned series on early Latin League towns, and its preface thanks several scholars, including Dr. Esther B. Van Deman and Professor Christian Hülsen, for access to unpublished indices of the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum.

Topography as Evidence

The first chapter systematically catalogs Praeneste's physical features. Magoffin identifies the city's gates by name and traces the course of its walls, relying on both visible remains and epigraphic references. The water supply is treated as a technical achievement, with the Temple of Fortuna Primigenia described as a monumental complex that dominated the urban landscape. The author also discusses the fora and the Sacra Via, though the excerpts do not reveal how these were located or what structures lined them. The approach is methodical: each element is described with an eye to what inscriptions can confirm about its ancient name or function.

Municipal Status and the Colony Debate

Chapter II addresses whether Praeneste was a municipium or a colony. Magoffin examines the distribution of offices, the role of quinquennales, and the regulations governing officials. He argues that after Sulla's colony was established, many old inhabitants remained, as shown by the recurrence of ancient names in later inscriptions. The author notes that within twenty years, soldier colonists had sold their land, suggesting minimal conflict. He also cites Dessau's view that old families regained municipal offices under Augustus, but pushes the inquiry further by analyzing early fasti inscriptions to argue for an earlier reintegration.

Epigraphical Dating and Name Patterns

Magoffin uses the form of names in inscriptions to date them. He observes that early colony lists show only praenomen and nomen, a style common among old Praenestine families, which he takes as evidence that these lists belong to the early colony. The presence of a duovir named P. Cornelius and another with the cognomen Dolabella (a Cornelian name) is cited as further proof. He also notes that the term quinquennalis appears without the prefix duoviri in early inscriptions, whereas later imperial texts use both forms. This shift, combined with the lex Iulia of 45 B.C., helps him date the inscriptions to before 49 B.C.

Readers should note that the excerpts cover only the preface and parts of Chapter II; the full text includes a topographical survey of the domain, a detailed treatment of the Temple of Fortuna Primigenia, and alphabetical and chronological lists of municipal officers. The work is a specialist monograph, dense with epigraphical references, and assumes familiarity with Roman history and Latin nomenclature. Those interested in the interplay between physical remains and administrative history will find Magoffin's method instructive.