about midday
`` Therefore , Sarah , thy charms will scatter my sorrows sooner than thy song . If I had acted as your Jewish song teaches , and waited for divine assistance , wine would have flowed away from my lips , and women would have fled from my household . `` Above all , I could not be the pharaoh 's heir any more than my brothers , one of whom does not leave his room without leaning on two slaves , while the other climbs along tree trunks . '' The next day Rameses sent his black men with commands to Memphis , and about midday came a great boat toward Sarah 's house from the direction of the city . The boat was filled with Greek soldiers in lofty helmets and gleaming breastplates . At command sixteen men armed with shields and short darts landed and stood in two ranks . They were ready to march to the house , when a second messenger from the prince detained them .