The bankers' booths were closed, the shops did not raise their shutters.

On the streets swarmed the irresponsible and the vicious.
Men of property who had not fled barred their doors and stood guard with their servants to beat back would-be plunderers.

There were no watchmen at the gates, no courts sitting in the basilicas.

After the great flight of the early morning, Rome was a city without warders, police, or government.
Fabia did not realize this fact until late in the afternoon, when she started forth, on foot and unattended, to visit a friend on the Caelian.

The half-deserted streets and barricaded houses filled her with uneasy tremors.