Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/270

the river Batinus; Truentum^[1] with its river of the same name, which place is the only remnant of the Liburni^[2] in Italy; the river Albula^[3]; Tervium, at which the Prætutian district ends, and that of Picenum begins; the town of Cupra^[4], Castellum Firmanorum^[5], and above it the colony of Asculum^[6], the most illustrious in Picenum; in the interior there is the town of Novana^[7]. Upon the coast we have Cluana^[8], Potentia, Wumana, founded by the Siculi, and Ancona^[9], a colony founded by the same people on the Promontory of Cumerus, forming an elbow of the coast, where it begins to bend inwards, and distant from Garganus 183 miles. In the interior

1. 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 from the opposite coast of Illyricum.
3. According to Mannert the river Tesino is the same as the Albula, and Tervium is the modem town of Grrotte a Mare; but D'Anville makes the latter to be the town of Cupra next mentioned.
4. 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 discovery of an inscription belonging to her temple here, there is little doubt that D'Anville 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.
5. "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.
6. Often called "Asculum Picenum" to distinguish it from Asculum in Apulia. It was a place of considerable strength, and played a great part in the Social War. It is unknown at what period it became a Roman colony. The modem city of Ascoh stands on its site.
7. Now called Monte Novano, according 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 modern Porto di Recanati. Numana is supposed to be the modern Umana, near the Cuscione, where, in the seventeenth century, extensive ruins were to be seen.
9. It still retains its ancient name, which was derived from the Greek (Greek characters) "the elbow," it being situate on a promontory which forms a curve, and almost encloses the port. The promontory is still called Monte Comero. A triumphal arch, erected in honour of Trajan, who constructed a new mole for the port, is still in fine preservation, and there are remains of an amphitheatre.