Bath during British Independence. 



made it seem to its denizens a dull and miserable place. I 

 assume that Aquae was the usual and colloquial name, and 

 that the full-length designation Aquae Solis was not employed 

 in speech but only in formal writings, or in lapidary inscrip- 

 tions. This "Aquae" would in pronunciation have sounded 

 like Ak-e. We are not without data in this matter; in 

 Roman times there were various places called Aquae, and 

 the modern forms which such names now bear afford ele- 

 ments of evidence concerning the pronunciation in the time 

 of the later 'Roman Empire. The German name Aachen 

 represents an Aquae, so do the French names Aix, Ax, and 

 Dax ; the latter, the name of a town in the Pyrenees, is for 

 De Aquis. 



As I said, the withdrawal of the Roman legions must have 

 been a great let-down for Aquse. This place was the chief 

 resort of seekers for health, and the chief place of relaxation 

 from military duties ; and it must naturally have been a scene 

 of ease amusement and festivity, abounding in every sort 

 of entertainment that was known to the Roman world and 

 suited to the taste of military society. After centuries of 

 such a life, when the prosperity of Aquae must have seemed 

 as stable as the Empire, and the Empire as firm as the solar 

 system, suddenly, about the year 410, the list of arrivals fell 

 off, and came to an abrupt termination. For Rome was 

 captured by the Goth, and it was as if chaos had come again. 



As may be supposed, we have few records of these times, 

 but the few which do survive are suggestive enough to enable 

 lis to sketch the general course of events with a reasonable 

 ■sense of probability. The cities in the Roman provinces 

 had been centres of districts, for the Romans used the towns 

 zs instruments for the rural administration, both in the way 

 of collecting revenue, and also in the dispensation of civil 



