two o'clock
Nero the tyrant once commanded a representation in grim earnest of the Flight of Icarus ; and the unhappy boy who took the part , at his first attempt to fly , fell headlong beside the Emperor 's couch and spattered him with blood and brains . For the Emperor , says Suetonius , _ perraro praesidere , ceterum accubans , parvis primum foraminibus , deinde toto podio adaperto , spectare consuerat _ . So I believed that on the stage of this world men agonised for the delight of one cruel intelligence which watched from behind the curtain of a private box . In this unhappy condition of mind , then , I was lying in my library chair here at Sevenhays , at two o'clock on the morning of January 4th . I had just finished another reading of the Tenth Vision and had tossed my book into the lap of an armchair opposite . Fire and lamp were burning brightly . The night outside was still and soundless , with a touch of frost .