The Romans defeated the Jewish people in the year 70 CE destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem on the ninth day of Av and punished and exiled the Jewish people after the Bar Kokhba revolt in the year 135 CE. You can imagine the low morale of the Jewish people still living in the land of Israel. Daf TB Avodah Zarah tells a lot of different incidents which point to the superiority of our Torah and the Jewish people in order to raise their morale. I don’t believe that the stories ever happen, but I do understand what they’re trying to accomplish.
.“The Gemara relates anther anecdote involving Antoninus. Antoninus had a certain underground cave from which there was a tunnel that went from his house to the house of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi. Every day he would bring two servants to serve him. He would kill one at the entrance of the house of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, and would kill the other one at the entrance of his house, so that no living person would know that he had visited Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi. He said to Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi: When I come to visit, let no man be found before you.
“One day, Antoninus found that Rabbi Ḥanina bar Ḥama was sitting there. He said: Did I not tell you that when I come to visit, let no man be found before you? Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi said to him: This is not a human being; he is like an angel, and you have nothing to fear from him. Antoninus said to Rabbi Ḥanina bar Ḥama: Tell that servant who is sleeping at the entrance that he should rise and come.
"Rabbi Ḥanina bar Ḥama went and found that the servant Antoninus referred to had been killed. He said to himself: How shall I act? If I go and tell Antoninus that he was killed, this is problematic, as one should not report distressing news. If I leave him and go, then I would be treating the king with disrespect. He prayed for God to have mercy and revived the servant, and he sent him to Antoninus. Antoninus said: I know that even the least among you can revive the dead; but when I come to visit let no man be found before you, even one as great as Rabbi Ḥanina bar Ḥama.
“The Gemara relates: Every day
Antoninus would minister to Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi; he would feed him
and give him to drink. When Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi wanted to ascend to
his bed, Antoninus would bend down in front of the bed and say to
him: Ascend upon me to your bed. Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi said in
response: It is not proper conduct to treat the king with this much
disrespect. Antoninus said: Oh, that I were set as a mattress under you
in the World-to-Come!” (Right! That’s exactly what the Emperor of the Roman
Empire would do and say to one of his subjects-GG)
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