This is as the daughter of the Roman emperor said to Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya, who was an ugly man: Woe to glorious wisdom such as yours, which is contained in an ugly vessel. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya said to her, in a seemingly unrelated response: Does your father keep his wine in simple clay vessels? The emperor’s daughter said to him: Rather, in what, then, should he keep it? Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya said to her: You, who are so important, should put it in vessels of gold and silver. The emperor’s daughter went and said this to her father. He put the wine in vessels of gold and silver and it turned sour. When his advisors came and told the emperor that the wine had turned sour, he said to his daughter: Who told you to do this? His daughter responded: Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya. The emperor summoned him and said to him: Why did you say this to her? Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya said to him: Just as she said to me, so I said say to her. The emperor said to him: But there are handsome people who are learned. Rabbi Yehoshua replied: Had they been ugly, they would have been even more learned. Alternatively, the Torah is likened to water, wine, and milk because just as these three liquids are spoiled only by diversion of attention, so too, are Torah matters forgotten only through diversion of attention.

(2) The Emperor Hadrian, may his bones rot, asked Rabbi Joshua son of Chananyah, and he said to him: "I am better than Moses, your rabbi." And Joshua said to him: "Why?" "Because I am alive and he is dead, as it is written "Even a live dog is better than a dead lion". He said to him, are you able to decree that no one kindle a light for three days?" Hadrian said: "Yes". In the evening they went together onto the roof of the palace, and they saw smoke from a distance! He said to him: "What's this?" And Hadrian replied to him: "a sick eparch came and the doctor saw him and said to him "Only if you drink hot water he will get better"". And he said to him: "May his spirit die, as your decree while you are alive is nullified, and Moses, our Rabbi, from the time that he decreed on us "You shall kindle no fire throughout your settlements on the sabbath day (Exodus 35:3)" no Jew lights a light on the day of Shabbat, and even now his decree is not nullified, but you said "I am better than him!"".