noon
VI . The Fall of the Temple . It was as a thunderbolt in a serene day -- the reverse of the Tribune in the zenith of his power , in the abasement of his foe ; when , with but a handful of brave Romans , determined to be free , he might have crushed for ever the antagonist power to the Roman liberties -- have secured the rights of his country , and filled up the measure of his own renown . Such a reverse was the very mockery of Fate , who bore him through disaster , to abandon him in the sunniest noon of his prosperity . The next morning not a soul was to be seen in the streets ; the shops were shut -- the churches closed ; the city was as under an interdict . The awful curse of the papal excommunication upon the chief magistrate of the Pontifical City , seemed to freeze up all the arteries of life . The Legate himself , affecting fear of his life , had fled to Monte Fiascone , where he was joined by the Barons immediately after the publication of the edict .