noon
The bribe of two obols brought him out with his pipe . Four of the slave-boys fell to dancing . The party sat down upon the burnt grass , -- eating , drinking , wreathing poppy-crowns , and watching the nimble slaves and the ships that crawled like ants in the haven and bay below . Thus passed the noon , and as the sun dropped toward craggy Salamis across the strait , the men of the party wandered down to the ports and found boats to take them out upon the bay . The wind was a zephyr . The water spread blue and glassy . The sun was sinking as a ball of infinite light .