A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Amalthæa
AMALTHÆA,
The name of the sibyl of Cumæ, who is said to have offered to Tarquin the Second, or The Proud, king of Rome, B. C. 624, nine books, containing the Roman destinies, and demanded for them three hundred pieces of gold. He derided her, for supposing that he would give so high a price for her books; she went away and burning three of them, returned and asked the same price for the other six; this being again denied, she burnt three more, and offered the remaining three, without lessening her demand. Upon which Tarquin, consulting the pontiffs, was advised to buy them. These books, called the "Sibylline Oracles," were in such esteem, that two magistrates were created to consult them upon extraordinary occasions. The books, and the story about them, were probably fabrications of the priests of Rome, to impose on that superstitious people, and increase their own importance, by occasionally quoting and interpreting these oracles. The story is also of importance in showing the spiritual influence the mind of woman exerted over that proud nation which owed its greatness to the sword. Even there the strength of man was fain to seek aid from the quicker intellect and more refined moral sense of woman.