AMALTHAE'A, the sibyl who offered to sell to Tarquin nine books of prophetic oracles. When the king refused to give her the price demanded, she went away, burnt three of them, and returning to the king, demanded the same price for the remaining six. Again the king declined the purchase. The sibyl, after burning three more of the volumes, demanded the original sum for the remaining three. Tarquin paid the money, and Amalthaea was never more seen. Aulus Gellius says that Amalthaea burnt the books in the king's presence. Pliny affirms that the original number of volumes was only three, two of which the sibyl burnt, and the third was purchased by king Tarquin. AMALTHE'A, a mistress of Ammon and mother of Bacchus. Ammon hid his mistress in the island Nysa (in Africa), in order to elude the vigilance and jealousy of his wife Rhea. This account (given by Diodorus Sic'ulus, bk. iii., and by sir Walter Raleigh in his _History of the World_, I. vi. 5) differs from the ordinary story, which makes Sem'elê the mother of Bacchus, and Rhea his nurse. (Ammon is Ham or Cham, the son of Noah, founder of the African race.) ... that Nyseian ile, Girt with the river Triton, where old Cham (Whom Gentiles Ammon call, and Libyan Jove) Hid Amalthea and her florid son, Young Bacchus, from his stepdame Rhea's eye. Milton, _Paradise Lost_, iv. 275 (1665). AMANDA, wife of Loveless. Lord Foppington pays her amorous attentions, but she utterly despises the conceited coxcomb, and treats him with contumely. Colonel Townly, in order to pique his lady-love, also pays attention to Loveless's wife, but she repels his advances with indignation, and Loveless, who overhears her, conscious of his own shortcomings, resolves to reform his ways, and, "forsaking all other," to remain true to Amanda, "so long as they both should live."--Sheridan, _A Trip to Scarborough_. _Aman'da_, in Thomson's _Seasons_, is meant for Miss Young, who married admiral Campbell. And thou, Amanda, come, pride of my song! Formed by the Graces, loveliness itself. "Spring," 480, 481 (1728). _Amanda_, the victim of Peregrine Pickle's seduction, in Smollett's novel of _Peregrine Pickle_ (1751). _Amanda_, worldly woman in Julia Ward Howe's poem, _Amanda's Inventory_, who sums up her wealth and honors, and is forced to conclude the list with death (1866). AMARAN'TA, wife of Bar'tolus, the covetous lawyer. She was wantonly loved by Leandro, a Spanish gentleman.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Spanish Curate_ (1622). AM'ARANTH (_Lady_), in _Wild Oats_, by John O'Keefe, a famous part of Mrs. Pope (1740-1797).