midnight
If she delayed it , she would be making him guilty of a fresh crime by allowing two blameless men to perish in misery . But she would first convince herself whether the time was pressing . She looked out through the open window at the stars and across the open place lying at her feet . The third hour after midnight was past , and the sun would rise before long . Down below all was quiet . Macrinus , the praetorian prefect , on hearing that the emperor had fallen into a refreshing sleep , in order that he might not be disturbed , had forbidden all loud signals , and ordered the camp to be closed to all the inhabitants of the city ; so the girl heard nothing but the regular footsteps of the sentries and the shrieks of the owls returning to their nests in the roof of the Serapeum . The wind from the sea drove the clouds before it across the sky , and the plain covered with tents resembled a sea tossed into high white waves .