in Pagan Mythology, the goddess of mischief. When Jupiter was deceived by Juno, after he had sworn to her that the next descendant of Perseus should reign over that race, his vengeance fell upon his daughter Ate, on the supposition that it was through her interference that Hercules was deprived of his heritage by the earlier birth of Eurystheus; whereupon she was hurled from Olympus, and banished for ever from the abodes of the celestials. In the tragic writers the character of Ate resembles that of Nemesis and Erinnyes.

ATELLANÆ FABULÆ, in Roman Antiquity, a species of low comedy, invented by the people of Campania, and adopted by the Romans. They seem to have consisted of metrical effusions, in burlesque imitation of the manner and dialect of the peasantry, with satirical humour.