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From Ostia comes an inscription which was set up by the grain measurers' union to Q. Petronius Q.f. Melior, etc., praetor of a small town some ten miles from Ostia, and also quattuorvir quinquennalis of Faesulae, a town above Florence, which seems to show that he was sent to Faesulae as a quinquennalis, for the honor which he had held previously was that of praetor in Laurentum.
Q. Decius Saturninus was a quattuorvir at Verona, but a quinquennalis at Aquinum. The quinquennial year seems to have been the year in which matters of consequence were more likely to be done than at other times. In 166 A.D. in Ostia a dedication was of importance enough to have the names of both the consuls of the year and the duoviri quinquennales at the head of the inscription.
It seems certain that he was not a resident of Tibur, and since he was not appointed as praefect by Hadrian, it seems quite reasonable to think that either the emperor had a right to name a quinquennalis, or that he was asked to name one, when one remembers the proximity of Hadrian's great villa, and the deference the people of Tibur showed the emperor.
There is no positive proof in any of the fasti that any quinquennalis was elected from one of the lower magistrates. There is proof that duovirs were elected, who had been aediles or quaestors.
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.
N. Cluvius M'. f. was a quattuorvir at Caudium, a duovir at Nola, and a quattuorvir quinquennalis at Capua, which again shows that a quinquennalis need not have been an official previously in the town in which he held the quinquennial office. C. Maenius C.f.
C. Egnatius Marus of Venusia was flamen of the emperor Tiberius, pontifex, and praefectus fabrum, and three times duovir quinquennalis, which seems to show a deference to a man who was the priest of the emperor, and seems to preclude an election by the citizens after a regular term of other offices.
Sagitta was twice quinquennalis at Superaequum, and held no other offices. Again, particularly worthy of notice is the fact that when L. Septimius L.f.
Bassus was aedile and quattuorvir at Herculaneum and then after holding the tribuneship of a legion is found next at Praeneste as a quinquennalis. M. Vettius M.f.
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.
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