Most of what we would call "towns" in Roman Britain were established to be administrative outposts. Establishing towns throughout conquered territory and having Romans settle there seems to be an obvious step in expansion of an empire. In order to make the native people of these territories more aware of the benefits, which the Roman life would grant them, Romans lived and interacted with them. The conquered Celt would quite soon see that he could soon benefit from all things Roman (i.e. military protection, roads, in-place bureaucracy etc.) if he simply adopted the toga and carried on his business in Latin.

This type of subtle insinuation of the Roman ideal into the conquered territories was the way the Romans ruled. For the most part, the Romans didn't actively force their way of life onto those they conquered. Instead, they simply showed them the Roman way of life and let them make up their own minds. This subtle insinuation of the Roman ideal is the true definition of British Romanitas. The people who were conquered were usually not fervently loyal to the Roman Empire. However, they were more than happy to take advantage of the benefits of the Roman way of life. There was no citizen soldier ideal left over from the period under the Republic. Instead, this new Romanitas was more of an opportunistic kind. Romanitas was also undergoing a change for the Romans. Instead of the citizen soldier ideal of the Republic, more and more of the wealthy Romans were spending less and less of their time in the city of their fathers. Instead, they started to spend their time at their villas throughout the empire. At these villas, wealthy Romans were relatively self sufficient, having their lands farmed by workers from the region, or slaves they brought with them. These villas provided a place where a Roman could stay to avoid the bustle and danger of Rome itself. This is where the Roman Britain town of Bath comes into play.

Bath was the site of a natural hot mineral spring. This spring became the cornerstone for the villa resort town known in Latin as Aquae Sulis. Made up of 22 acres within a wall, the town provided wealthy Romans with unparalleled public baths, luxurious homes, and clean streets. It was far away from the bustle of the city which the wealthier classes had come to loathe. It was also far away from their political enemies. In a toss up between a city crowded with the masses and political intrigue and a calm resort town, it is easy to see why the upper class Romans decided to spend their time in Bath. The architecture was beautiful and the streets were clean.

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