about one in the afternoon
For an order to that effect had come from the palace ; and on the other the officers foresaw ambushes in the temples , and preferred that men of the crowd should perish rather than warriors , who would be sufficiently occupied in every case . But in spite of the shouts of agitators , and wine given for nothing , the crowd hesitated . Laborers looked at the artisans ; the artisans and all were waiting for something . Suddenly , about one in the afternoon , from side streets a drunken band poured forth toward the temple of Ptah ; it was armed with poles and axes and was made up of fishermen , Greek sailors , shepherds , and Libyan vagrants , even convicts from the quarries in Turra . At the head of this band went a laborer of gigantic stature , with a torch in his hand . He stood before the gate of the temple and cried with an immense voice to the people , -- `` Do ye know , right believers , what the high priests and the nomarchs are preparing here ? They wish to force his holiness , Rameses XIII. , to deprive laborers of a barley cake a day , and to impose new taxes on the people , a drachma each man .