All others took their seats and kept their place; Thersites only, clamorous of tongue, Kept brawling. He, with many insolent words, Was wont to seek unseemly strife with kings, Uttering whate’er it seemed to him might move The Greeks to laughter. Of the multitude Who came to Ilium, none so base as he— Squint-eyed, with one lame foot, and on his back A lump, and shoulders curving towards the chest; His head was sharp, and over it the hairs Were thinly scattered. Hateful to the chiefs Achilles and Ulysses, he would oft Revile them. He to Agamemnon now Called with shrill voice and taunting words. The Greeks Heard him impatiently, with strong disgust And vehement anger, yet he shouted still To Agamemnon, and kept railing on:—
“Of what dost thou complain; what wouldst thou more, Atrides? In thy tents are heaps of gold; Thy tents are full of chosen damsels, given To thee before all others, by the Greeks, Whene’er we take a city. Dost thou yet Hanker for gold, brought by some Trojan knight, A ransom for his son, whom I shall lead— I, or some other Greek—a captive bound? Or dost thou wish, for thy more idle hours, Some maiden, whom thou mayst detain apart? Ill it beseems a prince like thee to lead The sons of Greece, for such a cause as this, Into new perils. O ye coward race! Ye abject Greeklings, Greeks no longer, haste Homeward with all the fleet, and let us leave This man at Troy to win his trophies here, That he may learn whether the aid we give Avails him aught or not, since he insults Achilles, a far braver man than he, And takes from him by force and holds his prize. And yet, Achilles is not moved by this To anger: he is spiritless, or else, Atrides, this injustice were thy last.”
Taunting the shepherd of the people thus, Thersites shouted to the king of men. But great Ulysses, coming quickly up, Rebuked him with a frown: “Thou garrulous wretch! Glib as thou art of tongue, Thersites,