Gittin2

1(Fol. 16b) Rabba b. b. Chana became ill and was visited by R. Juda and Raba, who came to find out his condition. The latter asked Rabba b. b. Chana concerning a divorce document, and while they were thus discussing it (Fol. 17) a Parsee came and took away the light from them. Rabba b. b. Chana thereupon said: "O Merciful! either let us live under Thy shadow (protection), or under the shadow of the son of Esau (Rome)." Shall we assume that the Romans are better natured than the Persians? Behold it was taught in the house of study of R. Chiya: What does the passage (Job 28, 23) God understandeth the way thereof, and He knoweth the place thereof, mean? This means that The Holy One, praised be He! knoweth very well, that Israel could not bear the evil decrees [against the study of the Torah] which the Romans enacted. He therefore exiled them in Babylonia [amongst the Persians.] Hence the Persians are better natured? This is not difficult to explain, the latter means prior to the entrance of the Parsees, and the former means after the Parsees had entered [the Jewish colonies in Babylonia.]