He had scarcely ended when the whole company rushed exultantly away to the ships, for all were anxious to return to their homes. This was more than the king had expected and he looked on in despair, while the other brave leaders gnashed their teeth. They were powerless to stay the tumultuous rabble until Ulysses, hurrying forward with quick presence of mind, admonished leaders and men to return to the assembly. “Do not be in such a hurry,” he would say when he met one of the princes; “hear the end. Thou dost not know the king’s mind yet. He but wished to test us, and woe to thee if the mighty king’s wrath overtake thee.” Then he drove the people back, and they came with a roar like angry waves breaking on a rocky shore. They knew Ulysses’ warlike spirit and feared he might advise renewal of the struggle. Only respect for his great authority moved them to return. When all the princes were seated and order had once more been restored, Ulysses was about to take up the sceptre. Suddenly Thersites pushed forward. He was despised by the whole army as a quarrelsome, insolent fellow, who seldom let an opportunity go by to insult the princes, not excepting Agamemnon himself, with mocking, rebellious words. He was the ugliest of all the Greeks, having a lame foot, a deformed shoulder, a pointed, bald head, and a cast in one eye. “What wilt thou now, Atreus’ son?” he shrieked at Agamemnon. “I should have thought thou hadst collected enough money and valuable spoils to have satisfied thy avarice. Dost thou desire still more? Must the Achaians still sacrifice themselves to fill thy insatiable throat? Are ye not ashamed, ye princes, to suffer such a king to lead ye to destruction? But ye are women or ye would desert him and embark without him.” “Silence, foolish babbler!” cried Ulysses. “If I ever again hear thee slander one of us so shamelessly, true as I live, I will tear thy clothes from thy body and whip thee out of the assembly so that the whole camp shall hear thy cries!” Thus spake the hero, beating him about the back and shoulders with the sceptre, so that he cowered down and then ran away crying out.