--Not long after, however, when the Romans became undisputed
masters of Gaul, we find Rouen the capital of the province, called the
_Secunda Lugdunensis_; and from that tine forward, it continued to
increase in importance. Etymologists have been amused and puzzled by
"Rothomagus," its classical name. In an uncritical age, it was contended
that the name afforded good proof of the city having been founded by
Magus, son of Samothes, contemporary of Nimrod. Others, with equal
diligence, sought the root of Rothomagus in the name of Roth, who is
said to have been its tutelary god; and the ancient clergy adopted the
tradition, in the hymn, which forms a part of the service appointed for
the feast of St. Mellonus,--
"Extirpate Roth idolo,
Fides est in lumine;
Ferro cinctus, pane solo
Pascitur et flumine,
Post haec junctus est in polo
Cum sanctorum agmine."
The partizans of _Roth_ are therefore supported by the authority of the
church; the favorers of _Magus_ must defend themselves by more worldly
erudition; and we must leave the task of deciding between the claims of
the two sections of the word, divided as they are by the neutral _o_, to
wiser heads than ours.
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