Mar Ukva and the Charity Given in Secret

There was a certain poor man in Mar Ukva's neighborhood into whose door-socket he would regularly cast four zuz each day. One day [the poor man] said, "I will go and see who does me this kindness." That day Mar Ukva was late [coming home] from the study house, and his wife came with him. When [the poor man] saw that they were moving the door [to drop the coins], he went out after them. They ran from before him and entered a certain furnace from which the fire had just been raked out; Mar Ukva's feet were being scorched. His wife said to him, "Lift your feet and set them upon my feet" [hers were unharmed]. He became distressed [that her merit exceeded his]. She said to him, "I am found within the house regularly, and my benefit [to the poor] is close at hand" [more immediate than yours]. And why all this [self-endangerment]? Because Rabbi Yochanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai: It is better for a person to throw himself into a fiery furnace than to shame the face of his fellow in public. And further: Mar Ukva had a certain poor man in his neighborhood to whom he was accustomed, every eve of the Day of Atonement, to send four hundred zuz. One day he sent them by the hand of his son. [The son] came back and said to him, "He does not need it; I saw that they were sprinkling aged wine before him." He said, "Is he so pampered?" He doubled [the sum] and sent it to him. When [Mar Ukva] was dying, he said, "Bring the accounting of my charity, and I will see how much charity I have done." He found in it seven thousand Caesarean dinars. He said, "The provisions are slight for the long road," arose, and dispersed half his wealth. But how did he do this? Did not Rabbi Ila say, "One who is openhanded should not give away more than a fifth, lest he come down from his wealth and become dependent on others"? That [restriction] applies in life, but after death we have no [concern] with it.