Another matter: “The advantage of land [is in every way]…” – the Holy One blessed be He said to the prophets: What do you believe, that if you do not go on My mission that I have no emissary? That is, “the advantage of land is in every way”; I can accomplish My mission with anything. Rabbi Aḥa said: Even by means of a snake, by means of a scorpion, by means of a gnat, and even by means of a frog. The wicked Titus entered the Holy of Holies with a drawn sword in his hand and he cut the curtain.
He seized two prostitutes in his hand and engaged in relations with them atop the altar. He emerged with his sword full of blood. Some say that it was blood of sacrifices and some say it was the blood of the Yom Kippur goat.43The reference is to offerings whose blood is sprinkled on the curtain dividing between the Sanctuary and the Holy of Holies. He began cursing and blaspheming and saying: There is no comparison between one who wages war with a king in the wilderness and defeats him and one who wages war with a king in his house and defeats him.
What did he do? He gathered all the Temple vessels into a net and boarded a ship. When he set sail, a large wave struck him in the sea. He said: It appears that the God of this nation has power only in the water.
He exacted retribution against the generation of Enosh only with water,44See Bereshit Rabba 90:6. and I, too, when I was in His house, He was unable to stand against me; now, He has confronted me here. The Holy One blessed be He said: Oh, wicked one son of a wicked one, by your life, with the smallest creature I created during the six days of Creation, I will exact retribution from this wicked one.
Immediately, the Holy One blessed be He scolded the sea and it calmed from its raging. [Titus] emerged from there. When he reached Rome, all the residents of Rome emerged and lauded him: Capturer of the barbarians. Immediately, they heated the bathhouse for him and he bathed. When he emerged, they blended him a goblet of a post-bath elixir of wine.
The Holy One blessed be He arranged a gnat for him in the cup; it entered into his nostril and began gnawing at his brain. It continued eating until it grew and was like the fledgling of a dove weighing two litra. [Titus] said: ‘Call doctors for him and they will split the brain of this man45Titus referred to himself in the third person. to ascertain with what the God of this nation exacted retribution from him.’
They called the doctors, they split his brain, and found [a creature] like the fledgling of a dove weighing two litra. Rabbi Elazar ben Rabbi Yosei said: I was there in Rome, and they placed that [gnat that was the size of a] dove on one side of the scale and two litra on one side, and they balanced each other. They placed it in a bowl; as the condition of this one changed, the condition of that one changed.46As the condition of the gnat improved, Titus’s condition worsened.
The gnat flew away, and Titus’s soul flew away to destruction and to eternal disgrace; that is, “the advantage of land.”