Midnight
But bring me to the knowledge of your chiefs . MARINO FALIERO . Midnight was over Rome . The skies were dark and lowering , and ominous of tempest ; for it was a sirocco , and the welkin was overcast with sheets of vapory cloud , not very dense , indeed , or solid , but still sufficient to intercept the feeble twinkling of the stars , which alone held dominion in the firmament ; since the young crescent of the moon had sunk long ago beneath the veiled horizon . The air was thick and sultry , and so unspeakably oppressive , that for above three hours the streets had been entirely deserted . In a few houses of the higher class , lights might be seen dimly shining through the casements of the small chambers , hard beside the doorway , appropriated to the use of the Atriensis , or slave whose charge it was to guard the entrance of the court .