Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/270

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236 PLINT's ITATTJEAL HISTOET. [Book III. the river Batinus ; Tnientum with its river of tlie same name, which place is the only remnant of the Liburni^ in Italy ; the river Albula^ ; Tervium, at which the Praetutian district ends, and that of Picenum begins ; the town of Cupra^, Castellum Pirmanorum^, and above it the colony of Asculum^, the most illustrious in Picenum ; in the interior there is the town of Novana. Upon the coast we have Cluana^, Potentia, Wumana, founded by the Siculi, and Ancona^, a colony founded by the same people on the Promontory of Cumerus, forming an elbow of the coast, where it begins to bend in- wards, and distant from Garganus 183 miles. In the interior ^ The river still has the name of Tronto ; Porto di Martin Scuro occupies the site of the town. 2 Who had crossed over as colonists fi-om the opposite coast of Illy- ricum. •^ According to Mannert the river Tesino is the same as the Albula, and Tervium is the modem town of Grrotte a Mare ; but D'Ajiville makes the latter to be the town of Cupra next mentioned. ^ This was called Cupra Maritima, to distinguish it from the town of the Cuprenses Montani, afterwards mentioned. It is said by Strabo to have had its name from the Tyrrhenian name of Juno. From the dis- covery of an inscription belonging to her temple here, there is httle doubt that D'AnvLUe is right in his suggestion that the site of Cupra is at Grotte a Mare, eight miles from the mouth of the Truentus or Tronto. ^ "The Fortress of the Firmani," five miles from Firmum, an important city of Picenum. The Fortress was situate at the mouth of the Leta, and was the port of the city. It is stUl called Porto di Fermo. " Often called "Asculum Picenum" to distinguish it from Asculum in Apuha. It was a place of considerable strength, and played a great part in the Social War. It is imknowTi at what period it became a Roman colony. The modem city of Ascoh stands on its site. 7 Now called Monte Novano, accorduig to D'Anville and Brotier. 8 Its site is supposed to have been that of the small town called Santo Elpidio a Mare, four miles from the sea, and the same distance north of Fermo. The remains of Potentia are supposed to be those in the vicinity of the modem Porto di Recanati. Numana is supposed to be the modem Umana, near the Cuscione, where, in the seventeenth century, extensive ruins were to be seen. ^ It still retains its ancient name, which was derived from the Greek dyKU)v " the elbow," it being situate on a promontory which forms a ciuve, and almost encloses the port. The promontory is still called Monte Comero. A triumphal arch, erected in honour of Trajan, who con- structed a new mole for the port, is still in fine preservation, and there »re remains of an amphitheatre.