"What cattle! Go on against the priests!"
"Hei, ye!" cried the giant at the temple gate. "Open to us of your own will, so that we may know what the high priests and the nomarchs are counseling!"
"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 not 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. If the crowd had been less occupied with the violent deeds of the attackers, they would have seen that something unusual was happening in nature. The sun was shining, there was not one cloud in the sky, and still the brightness of the day had begun to decrease and there was a breath of coolness.
"Give us another beam!" cried the attackers of the temple. "The gate is giving way!"
"Powerfully! Once more!"
The crowd looking on roared like a tempest. Here and there men began to separate from the throng and join the attackers. At last a whole mass of people pushed slowly toward the temple.