Sentence:  "Andronicus" the Emperour, finding by chance in his pallace certaine principall men very earnestly disputing against "Lapodius" about one of our points of great importance, taunted and <WSD>rated</WSD> them very bitterly, and threatened if they gave not over, he would cause them to be cast into the river. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To berate, scold.