FREGELLAE  , an

ancient town of Latium adiectum, situated on the Via Latina,' r m . W . N . W. of Aquinum, near the left branch of the Liris . It is said to have belonged in early times to the Opici or Oscans, and later to the Volscians . It was apparently destroyed by the Samnites a little before 330 B.C., in which year the people of Fabrateria Vetus (mod . Ceccano) besought the help of Rome against them, and in 328 B.C. a Latin colony was established there . The place was taken in 320 B.C. by the Samnites, but re-established by the Romans in 313 B.C . It continued hence-forward to be faithful to Rome; by breaking the bridges over the Liris it interposed an obstacle to the advance of Hannibal on Rome in 212 B.C., and it was a native of Fregellae who headed the deputation of the non-revolting colonies in 209 B.C . It appears to have been a very important and flourishing place owing to its command of the crossing of the Liris, and to its position in a fertile territory, and it was here that, after the rejection of the proposals of M . Fulvius Flaccus for the extension of Roman burgess-rights in 125 B.C., a revolt against Rome broke out . It was captured by treachery in the same year and destroyed; but its place was taken in the following year by the colony of Fabrateria Nova, 3 M. to the S.E. on the opposite bank of the Liris, while a post station Fregellanum (mod .

Ceprano) is mentioned in the itineraries; Fregellae itself, however, continued to exist as a

village even under the empire . The site is clearly traceable about 1 m . E. of Ceprano, but the remains of the city are scanty . See G . Colasanti, Fregellae, storks e topografia (1906) . (T .