the midday summer sun
It was only a single rush , a brandishing and plunging of javelins retained in grasp , a little more blood spattered upon the horses ' necks and bellies . No legionary was standing when the tempest had gone by , and there , among his men , with face turned from the red earth to the reddening sky , lay Lucius Sergius Fidenas , in slumber fitting for a Roman patrician when the black day of Cannae was done . There was much bustle and confusion throughout the little inn at Sinuessa . August was just closing , and the midday summer sun beat down too fiercely to permit of comfortable travel save toward morning or night . The inn-keeper had hurried out and stood in the roadway , bowing and wreathing his face with smiles of welcome , while , behind him , were grouped his servants , each bearing some implement of his or her calling -- a muster well calculated to impress the wayfarer with the assurance of comfort and good cheer . The occasion of all this demonstration was a party that had halted , apparently for refreshment and the customary traveller 's siesta ; a rheda or four-wheeled travelling carriage , closely covered and drawn by three powerful horses yoked abreast . Two armed outriders , one apparently a freedman and the other a slave , made up the company , the former of whom , a stout , elderly man with gray hair and beard , had reined in his horse before the obsequious host , while the other remained by the carriage wheel , as if to aid the driver in guarding the rheda 's occupants from intrusion .