Durin the early years of roman expansion what city was Rome's only rival?

Answer 1

The Etruscan city of Veii, which was only 10 miles from Rome, on the other side of the river Tiber, was Rome's main rival in the early days of Rome's history. The two cities fought each other 8 times in some 350 years. This ended when Rome destroyed Veii in 396 BC.

However, Veii was not Rome's only rival. The nearby Sabines attacked Roman territory several times. In the early 5th century BC the Etruscan cities of Tarquinii and Clusium also attacked Rome and the other Latin cities allied against Rome and fought her. In that century the most dangerous enemies of Rome were the Aequi and the Volsci who had conquered lands to the south of Rome. Rome had to fight defensive wars against their plundering raids on her territories for most of that century.