Ancient authors and scholars often reacted to his poetry and to the biographical tradition angrily, condemning "fault-finding Archilochus" for "fattening himself on harsh words of hatred" (see Pindar's comment below) and for "the unseemly and lewd utterances directed towards women", whereby he made "a spectacle of himself" He was considered "... a noble poet in other respects if one were to take away his foul mouth and slanderous speech and wash them away like a stain" (Suda). According to Valerius Maximus, the Spartans banished the works of Archilochus from their state for the sake of their children "... lest it harm their morals more than it benefited their talents." Yet some ancient scholars interpreted his motives more sympathetically: