midday
`` Open to us of your own will , so that we may know what the high priests and the nomarchs are counselling ! '' `` Open , or we will break the gate ! '' `` A wonderful thing , '' said people from afar ; `` the birds are going to sleep . But it is only midday . '' `` Something evil has happened in the air ! '' `` O gods , night is coming , and I have n't pulled salad for dinner , '' said some girl . But these remarks were drowned by the uproar of the drunken band , and the noise of beams striking the bronze gate of the temple .