noon
It was a narrow , featureless passage , scarcely wide enough to give room for a chariot . The brown dust had more prints of naked than of sandaled feet , for most men of the young sculptor 's rank went abroad in chariots . Once out of the passage , he turned across the city toward the east . Memphis had pushed aside her screens and shaken out her tapestries after the noon rest and was deep in commerce once again . From the low balconies overhead the Damascene carpets swung , lending festivity to the energetic traffic below . The pillars of stacked ware flanking the fronts of pottery shops were in a constant state of wreckage and reconstruction ; the stalls of fruiterers perfumed the air with crushed and over-ripe produce ; litters with dark-eyed occupants and fan-bearing attendants stood before the doorways of lapidaries and booths of stuffs ; venders of images , unguents , trinkets and wines strove to outcry one another or the poulterer 's squawking stall . Kenkenes met frequent obstructions and was forced to reduce his rapid pace .