`` aquitaine aquitania , as julius caesar calledit was the name given to a region in southwesternfrance that at one time in the first centuries afterchrist was said to have extended from the atlantic , across the pyrenees to the mediterranean , and as farnorth as the mouth of the loire west of paris on thecoast `` `` i 'm vaguely aware of that , '' joel broke in , tooimpatient for an academic dissertation .