noon
Chapter 9 . III . Adrian 's Adventures at Palestrina . It was yet noon when Adrian beheld before him the lofty mountains that shelter Palestrina , the Praeneste of the ancient world . Back to a period before Romulus existed , in the earliest ages of that mysterious civilisation which in Italy preceded the birth of Rome , could be traced the existence and the power of that rocky city . Eight dependent towns owned its sway and its wealth ; its position , and the strength of those mighty walls , in whose ruins may yet be traced the masonry of the remote Pelasgi , had long braved the ambition of the neighbouring Rome . From that very citadel , the Mural Crown -LRB- Hence , apparently , its Greek name of Stephane .