ATALANTA, of Arcadia, wished to remain single, and therefore gave out that she would marry no one who could not outstrip her in running; but if any challenged her and lost the race, he was to lose his life. Hippom'enês won the race by throwing down golden apples, which Atalanta kept stopping to pick up. William Morris has chosen this for one of his tales in _Earthly Paradise_ (March). In short, she thus appeared like another Atalanta.--Comtesse D'Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ ("Fortunio," 1682). _Atalanta_, the central figure in Algernon Charles Swinburne's poem after Æschylus _Atalanta in Calydon_ (1864). ATALI'BA, the inca of Peru, most dearly beloved by his subjects, on whom Pizarro makes war. An old man says of the inca-- The virtues of our monarch alike secure to him the affection of his people and the benign regard of heaven.--Sheridan, _Pizarro_; ii. 4 (from Kotzebue),(1799). Atê (2 _syl_.), goddess of revenge. With him along is come the mother queen. An Atê, stirring him to blood and strife. Shakespeare, _King John_, act ii. sc. I (1596). _Atê_ (2 _syl_.), "mother of debate and all dissension," the friend of Duessa. She squinted, lied with a false tongue, and maligned even the best of beings. Her abode, "far under ground hard by the gates of hell," is described at length in bk. iv. I. When Sir Blandamour was challenged by Braggadoccio (canto 4), the terms of the contest were that the conqueror should have "Florimel," and the other "the old hag Atê," who was always to ride beside him till he could pass her off to another.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, iv. (1596). ATH'ALIE (3 _syl_.), daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, and wife of Joram king of Judah. She massacred all the remnant of the house of David; but Joash escaped, and six years afterwards was proclaimed king. Athalie, attracted by the shouts, went to the temple, and was killed by the mob. This forms the subject and title of Racine's _chef-d'oeuvre_ (1691), and was Mdlle. Rachel's great part. (Racine's tragedy of _Athalie_, queen of Judah, must not be confounded with Corneille's tragedy of _Attila_, king of the Huns.) ATHEIST'S TRAGEDY (_The_), by Cyril Tourneur. The "atheist" is D'Amville, who murders his brother Montferrers for his estates.--(Seventeenth century.) ATH'ELSTANE (3 _syl_.), surnamed "The Unready," thane of Coningsburgh.--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.). [Illustration] "Unready" does not mean _unprepared_ but _injudicious_ (from Anglo-Saxon _raed_, "wisdom, counsel"). ATHE'NA (_Pallas_) once meant "the air," but in Homer this goddess is the representative of civic prudence and military skill; the armed protectress of states and cities. The Romans called her Minerva. ATHE'NIAN BEE, Plato, so called from, the honeyed sweetness of his composition. It is said that a bee settled on his lip while he was an infant asleep in his cradle, and indicated that "honeyed words" would fall from his lips, and flow from his pen. Sophoclês is called "The Attic Bee."