“Merely because he was able to part from his wife is no proof that he is above temptation. Let Satan but approach him in the form of a naked woman and lust will suddenly befall him like an enemy from ambush, and rob him of all his senses, even as a thief robs his victim in the night.”
And they added to their prayers an entreaty that God should lead the Rabbi into such temptation. And, to their own punishment, God heard their prayers.
When Rabbi Akiba left his wife he also left the city in which she dwelt. This he did, not so much from personal choice, lest the proximity of his wife allure him, but rather for her sake, lest his nearness too much affect her. And in order that his wife, in her feminine weakness, should not follow him to the new place in which he intended to settle, he did not for a long time establish himself anywhere, journeying from city to city and from land to land.
And once, in his peregrinations, he came to a land in which remarkable customs and manners prevailed. One of these customs was to sweeten the nights of the honoured guests with the company of women.
And it happened that when the ruler of this land learned of Rabbi Akiba’s arrival and the importance of his guest, he sent to him for the night two beautiful damsels, the most beautiful in his realms. In the manner of women both beauties did their best to heighten their charms and increase the power of their attraction. They freshened themselves in the bath; the enchanting odour of their youthful bodies they rendered more intoxicating than ever with rare perfumes; they arrayed themselves seductively like brides on the wedding night. And they came to Rabbi Akiba in radiant half-nakedness, with an inviting smile upon their cherry lips, with the fire of passion and voluptuousness in their sparkling eyes.
They knew that they were going to a highly honoured guest, but they did not know that they would encounter a very handsome man of gigantic stature. When they beheld him their passion flamed still higher, and each tried to display before him the most enticing allurements of her person.
“Come to me,” said one.
“Come to me,” invited the other.
And they passed close to him with their naked bodies, and each praised her person and its charms, and the pleasures it afforded.