Thus spoke Thersites, reviling Agamemnon, the shepherd of the people. But godlike Ulysses immediately stood beside him, and eyeing him with scowling brow, reproached him with harsh language:
"Thersites, reckless babbler! noisy declaimer though thou be, refrain, nor be forward singly to strive with princes; for I affirm that there is not another mortal more base than thou, as many as came with the son of Atreus to Ilium. Wherefore do not harangue, having kings in thy mouth, nor cast reproaches against them, nor be on the watch for a return. Not as yet indeed do we certainly know how these matters will turn out, whether we sons of the Greeks shall return to our advantage or disadvantage. Wherefore, now thou sittest reviling Agamemnon, son of Atreus, the leader of the people, because the Grecian heroes give him very many gifts, while thou, insulting, dost harangue. But I declare to thee, which shall also be accomplished: if ever again I catch thee raving, as now thou art, no longer may the head of Ulysses rest upon his shoulders, and no longer may I be called the father of Telemachus, unless I seizing thee divest thee of thy very garments, thy coat, thy cloak, and those which cover thy loins; and send thyself weeping to the swift ships, having beaten thee out of the assembly with severe blows."
Thus he spoke, and smote him with the scepter upon the back and the shoulders; but he writhed, and plenteous tears fell from him, and a bloody weal arose under the, scepter upon his back. But he sat down and trembled; and grieving, looking foolish, he wiped away the tears. They, although chagrined, laughed heartily at him, and thus one would say, looking toward the person next him:
"O strange! surely ten thousand good deeds has Ulysses already performed, both originating good counsels, and arousing the war. But now has he done this by far the best deed among the Greeks, in that he has restrained this foul-mouthed reviler from his harangues. Surely his petulant mind will not again urge him to chide the kings with scurrilous language."
Thus spake the multitude; but Ulysses, the sacker of cities, arose, holding the scepter, and beside him azure-eyed Minerva, likened unto a herald, ordered the people to be
