nger 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 sceptre upon the back and the
shoulders; but he writhed, and plenteous tears fell from him, and a
bloody weal arose under the sceptre 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 towards 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 amongst 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 sceptre, and beside him azure-eyed Minerva, likened unto a
herald, ordered the people to be silent, that at the same time the sons
of the Greeks, both first and last, might hear his speech, and weigh his
counsel. He wisely counselling, addressed them, and said:

"O son of Atreus, the Greeks wish to render thee now, O king, the
meanest amongst articulately-speaking men; nor perform their promise to
thee,[100] which they held forth, coming hither from steed-nourishing
Argos, that thou shouldest return home, having destroyed well-fortified
Ilium. For, like tender boys, or widowed women, they bewail unto one
another to return home. And truly it is a hardship to return [so],
having been grieved. For he is impatient who is absent even for a single
month from his wife, remaining with his many-benched ship,[101] though
wintry storms and the boisterous sea may be hemming in;[102] but to us
it is [now] the ninth revolving year since we have been lingering here.
Wherefore I am not indignant that the Greeks are growing impatient by
their curved ships; but still it would be disgraceful both to remain
here so long, and to return ineffectually. Endure, my friends, and
remain yet awhile, that we may know whether Calchas prophesies truly or
not. For this we well know, and ye are all witnesses, whom the Fates of
death carried not off yesterday and the day before, wh