three o'clock
All Nature smiles for them , and her only frown is the last one which sends them to bathe in Cocytus . Believe me , they are your only true philosophers . ' While Glaucus was thus conversing , Lepidus , with closed eyes and scarce perceptible breath , was undergoing all the mystic operations , not one of which he ever suffered his attendants to omit . After the perfumes and the unguents , they scattered over him the luxurious powder which prevented any further accession of heat : and this being rubbed away by the smooth surface of the pumice , he began to indue , not the garments he had put off , but those more festive ones termed ` the synthesis ' , with which the Romans marked their respect for the coming ceremony of supper , if rather , from its hour -LRB- three o'clock in our measurement of time -RRB- , it might not be more fitly denominated dinner . This done , he at length opened his eyes and gave signs of returning life . At the same time , too , Sallust betokened by a long yawn the evidence of existence . ` It is supper time , ' said the epicure ; ` you , Glaucus and Lepidus , come and sup with me . '