called) temples, a basilica and an amphitheatre (see R. Delbruck in
_Rom. Mitteilungen_, 1903, p. 143). Outside, on the south is a
well-preserved triumphal arch with composite capitals, and close to it
the 11th-century basilica of S. Maria Libera, a handsome building in the
Romanesque style, but now roofless. Several Roman inscriptions are built
into it, and many others that have been found indicate the ancient
importance of the place, which, though it does not appear in early
history, is vouched for by Cicero and Strabo.[1] A colony was planted
here by the Triumviri. St Thomas Aquinas was born in the castle of
Roccasecca, 5 m. N.

See E. Grossi, _Aquinum_ (Rome, 1907). (T. As.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] According to H. Nissen, _Ital. Landeskunde_ (Berlin, 1902), ii.
665, a road ran from here to Minturnae; but no traces of it are to be
seen.

AQUITAINE, the name of an ancient province in France, the extent of
which has varied considerably from time to time. About the time of
Julius Caesar the name _Aquitania_ was given to that part of Gaul lying
between the Pyrenees and the Garonne, and its inhabitants were a race,
or races, distinct from the Celts. The name Aquitania is probably a form
of Auscetani, which in its turn is a lengthened form of Ausces, and is
thus cognate with the words Basque and Wasconia, i.e. Gascony. Although
many of the tribes of Aquitania submitted to Julius Caesar, it was not
until about 28 B.C. that the district was brought under the Roman yoke.
In keeping with the Roman policy of denationalization, the term
Aquitania was extended, and under Augustus it included the whole of Gaul
south and west of the Loire and the Allier, and thus ceased to possess
ethnographical importance. In the 3rd century A.D. this larger Aquitania
was divided into three parts: _Aquitania Prima_, the eastern part of the
district between the Loire and the Garonne; _Aquitania Secunda_, the
western part of the same district; and _Aquitania Tertia_, or
_Novempopulana_, the region between the Garonne and the Pyrenees, or the
original Aquitania. The seats of government were respectively Bourges,
Bordeaux and Eauze; the province contained twenty-six cities, and was in
the diocese of Vienne. Like the rest of Gaul, Aquitania absorbed a large
measure of Roman civilization, and this continued to distinguish the
district down to a late period. In the 5th century the Visigoths
established themselves in Aquitania Secunda,