"Now hold your post – play the scarecrow to all the pigs and dogs!
But no more lording it over strangers, no more playing
the beggar-king for you, you loathsome fool,
or you’ll bring down something worse around your neck!"
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 18, lines 121-124. Odysseus humiliates Irus by propping him up against a fence outside the palace and thrusting a stick into his hand, telling him to play the scarecrow instead of the "Beggar King."