Bale (now Baja), an ancient seaport town and watering place of Italy, about 10 m. W. of Naples, on the bay of Baiaa, between the Lncrine lake and Cape Misenum, and opposite the town of Puteoli. The narrow strip of coast sheltered by a semicircular ridge of hills on which Baiae stood was covered with the palaces and baths of the Etonian nobles. For want of room they often built out into the Sea, and remains of submarine foundations are still visible. The leading attractions of Baiae seem to have been its mild climate, its numerous hot springs, and its delightful scenery. Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, and Oaracalla all frequented this spot; and it was the favorite resort of Horace and most men of wit and fashion in his day. Moralists spoke of it as a hot-bed of vice and luxury. It re- tained its prosperity until the invasion of The-odoric the Goth. With the fall of the empire it ceased to be visited; its villas were left to decay, and the whole coast is now a desert. The springs, no longer confined, have formed stagnant pools, giving off unwholesome exhalations in summer. The ground is strewn with ruined fragments of bricks, marbles, and mosaics. The only buildings remaining are three or four edifices of a circular form, two of which were in all probability warm baths.

Another is believed to have been a temple of Venus. The whole coast has evidently undergone great changes since the time of the Romans, and appears to have sunk several feet below its ancient level.