...טיטוס הרשע נכנס לבית קדשי הקדשים וגידד שתי הפרכות ויצא בשלום, ובניו של אהרן נכנסו להקריב ויצאו שרופים...
See also Vayikra Rabbah 20:5, Tanchuma Acharei Mos 5:1
See also Vayikra Rabbah 20:5, Tanchuma Acharei Mos 5:1
...עָמַד עָלָיו נַחְשׁוֹל שֶׁבַּיָּם לְטוֹבְעוֹ, אָמַר, ״כִּמְדוּמֶּה אֲנִי שֶׁאֱלֹהֵיהֶם שֶׁל אֵלּוּ אֵין גְּבוּרָתוֹ אֶלָּא בַּמַּיִם! בָּא פַּרְעֹה טְבָעוֹ בַּמַּיִם, בָּא סִיסְרָא טְבָעוֹ בַּמַּיִם, אַף הוּא עוֹמֵד עָלַי לְטוֹבְעֵנִי בַּמַּיִם! אִם גִּבּוֹר הוּא יַעֲלֶה לַיַּבָּשָׁה וְיַעֲשֶׂה עִמִּי מִלְחָמָה!״ יָצְתָה בַּת קוֹל וְאָמְרָה לוֹ, ״רָשָׁע בֶּן רָשָׁע בֶּן בְּנוֹ שֶׁל עֵשָׂו הָרָשָׁע! בְּרִיָּה קַלָּה יֵשׁ לִי בְּעוֹלָמִי, וְיַתּוּשׁ שְׁמָהּ.״ אַמַּאי קָרֵי לַהּ בְּרִיָּה קַלָּה? דְּמַעֲלָנָא אִית לַהּ וּמַפְּקָנָא לֵית לַהּ. ״עֲלֵה לַיַּבָּשָׁה וְתַעֲשֶׂה עִמָּהּ מִלְחָמָה!״ עָלָה לַיַּבָּשָׁה, בָּא יַתּוּשׁ וְנִכְנַס בְּחוֹטְמוֹ, וְנִקֵּר בְּמוֹחוֹ שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים. יוֹמָא חַד הֲוָה קָא חָלֵיף אַבָּבָא דְּבֵי נַפָּחָא שְׁמַע קָל אַרְזַפְתָּא, אִישְׁתִּיק. אֲמַר, ״אִיכָּא תַּקַּנְתָּא!״ כֹּל יוֹמָא מַיְיתוּ נַפָּחָא וּמָחוּ קַמֵּיה; לְגוֹי יָהֵיב לֵיהּ אַרְבַּע זוּזֵי, יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲמַר לֵיהּ, ״מִיסָּתְיָיךְ דְּקָא חָזֵית בְּסָנְאָךְ!״ עַד תְּלָתִין יוֹמִין עֲבַד הָכִי, מִכָּאן וְאֵילָךְ כֵּיוָן דְּדָשׁ דָּשׁ. תַּנְיָא, אָמַר רַבִּי פִּנְחָס בֶּן עֲרוּבָא, ״אֲנִי הָיִיתִי בֵּין גְּדוֹלֵי רוֹמִי וּכְשֶׁמֵּת פָּצְעוּ אֶת מוֹחוֹ וּמָצְאוּ בּוֹ כְּצִפּוֹר דְּרוֹר מִשְׁקַל שְׁנֵי סְלָעִים.״ בְּמַתְנִיתָא תָּנָא: כְּגוֹזָל בֶּן שָׁנָה מִשְׁקַל שְׁנֵי לִיטְרִין. אָמַר אַבָּיֵי, ״נָקְטִינַן פִּיו שֶׁל נְחוֹשֶׁת וְצִפּוֹרְנָיו שֶׁל בַּרְזֶל.״ כִּי הֲוָה קָא מָיֵית אֲמַר לְהוּ, ״לִיקְלְיוּהּ לְהָהוּא גַּבְרָא וּבַדַּרוּ לְקִיטְמֵיהּ אַשַּׁב יַמִּי דְּלָא לַשְׁכְּחֵיהּ אֱלָהָא דִיהוּדָאֵי וְלוֹקְמֵיהּ בְּדִינָא.״
It is further related about Titus that he was once traveling at sea and a wave rose up against him and threatened to drown him.Titus said: It seems to me that their God, the God of Israel, has power only in water. Pharaoh rose against them and He drowned him in water. Sisera rose against them and He drowned him in water. Here too, He has risen up against me to drown me in water. If He is really mighty, let Him go up on dry land and there wage war against me. A Divine Voice issued forth and said to him: Wicked one, son of a wicked one, grandson of Esau the wicked, for you are among his descendants and act just like him, I have a lowly creature in My world and it is called a gnat. The Gemara interjects: Why is it called a lowly creature? It is called this because it has an entrance for taking in food, but it does not have an exit for excretion. The Gemara resumes its story about Titus. The Divine Voice continued: Go up on dry land and make war with it. He went up on dry land, and a gnat came, entered his nostril, and picked at his brain for seven years. Titus suffered greatly from this until one day he passed by the gate of a blacksmith’s shop. The gnat heard the sound of a hammer and was silent and still. Titus said: I see that there is a remedy for my pain. Every day they would bring a blacksmith who hammered before him. He would give four dinars as payment to a gentile blacksmith, and to a Jew he would simply say: It is enough for you that you see your enemy in so much pain. He did this for thirty days and it was effective until then. From that point forward, since the gnat became accustomed to the hammering, it became accustomed to it, and once again it began to pick away at Titus’s brain. It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Pineḥas ben Arova said: I was at that time among the noblemen of Rome, and when Titus died they split open his head and found that the gnat had grown to the size of a sparrow weighing two sela. It was taught in another baraita: It was like a one-year-old pigeon weighing two litra. Abaye said: We have a tradition that its mouth was made of copper and its claws were fashioned of iron. When Titus was dying, he said to his attendants: Burn that man, i.e., me, and scatter his ashes across the seven seas, so that the God of the Jews should not find me and stand me for judgment.
...בכל עושה הקב"ה את שליחותו ולא ברא דבר אחד לבטלה, ופעמים שעשה הקב"ה שליחותו על ידי [צפרדע, ועל ידי יתוש, ועל ידי צרעה, ועל ידי] עקרב...כיון שהגיע (טיטוס הרשע) לים התחיל הים הולך וסוער. אמר, ״אלהיהן של אלו אין לו כח אלא בים! עמד פרעה וטבעו בים, וכן לסיסרא, עכשיו אם הוא רוצה הרי היבשה בינו לביני ונראה מי נוצח!״ אמר הקב"ה, ״רשע בן רשע, בן בנו של נמרוד הרשע! בריה קלה פחוה שבבריותי אני משלח בך לבערך מן העולם!״ נכנס יתוש בחוטמו ומת במיתה משונה...
...in everything the Holy One accomplishes his mission and that he has not created one thing in vain. Sometimes the Holy One has accomplished his mission by means of [a frog, by means of a gnat, by means of a wasp, or by means of] a scorpion...
When (Titus) reached the sea, the sea began to grow more and more stormy. He said: The God of these people only has power in the sea. When Pharaoh arose, he drowned him in the sea, and Sisera as well. Now if he would, let there be dry land between him and me. Then let us see who overcomes. The Holy one said: O you wicked son of wickedness, son of the Nimrod the Wicked, I am sending against you a tiny creature, the least of my creatures, to eradicate you from the world. A gnat entered his nose and he died an unnatural death...
When (Titus) reached the sea, the sea began to grow more and more stormy. He said: The God of these people only has power in the sea. When Pharaoh arose, he drowned him in the sea, and Sisera as well. Now if he would, let there be dry land between him and me. Then let us see who overcomes. The Holy one said: O you wicked son of wickedness, son of the Nimrod the Wicked, I am sending against you a tiny creature, the least of my creatures, to eradicate you from the world. A gnat entered his nose and he died an unnatural death...
...יָרַד (טִיטוּס הָרָשָׁע) לַסְּפִינָה, כֵּיוָן שֶׁיָּרַד מְחָאֵיהּ נַחְשְׁלָא בְּיַמָּא. אֲמַר, ״דּוֹמֶה זֶה שֶׁאֵין כֹּחוֹ שֶׁל אֱלוֹקַּ שֶׁל אֻמָּה זוֹ אֶלָּא בַּמַּיִם! דּוֹר אֱנוֹשׁ לֹא פָּרַע מֵהֶן אֶלָּא בַּמַּיִם, דּוֹר הַמַּבּוּל לֹא פָּרַע מֵהֶן אֶלָּא בַּמַּיִם, פַּרְעֹה וְכָל חֵילוֹ לֹא פָּרַע מֵהֶן אֶלָּא בַּמַּיִם! אַף אֲנִי כְּשֶׁהָיִיתִי בְּתוֹךְ בֵּיתוֹ וּבִרְשׁוּתוֹ לֹא הָיָה יָכוֹל לַעֲמֹד בִּי, וְעַכְשָׁיו לְכָאן קִדְמַנִּי! סָבוּר הוּא שֶׁיַּהַרְגֵּנִי בַּמַּיִם!״ אָמַר לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, ״רָשָׁע! חַיֶּיךָ מִבְּרִיָה שֶׁהִיא פְּחוּתָה מִכָּל הַבְּרִיּוֹת שֶׁבָּרָאתִי מִשֵּׁשֶׁת יְמֵי בְרֵאשִׁית בָּהּ אֲנִי נִפְרַע מֵאוֹתוֹ רָשָׁע!״ מִיָּד רָמַז הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לַשַּׂר שֶׁל יָם וְעָמַד מִזַּעְפּוֹ. כֵּיוָן שֶׁהִגִּיעַ לְרוֹמִי יָצְאוּ כָּל גְּדוֹלֵי רוֹמִי לִקְרָאתוֹ וְקִלְּסוּ אוֹתוֹ. כֵּיוָן שֶׁעָלָה לְרוֹמִי נִכְנַס לַמֶּרְחָץ, כֵּיוָן שֶׁיָּצָא הֵבִיאוּ פְּיָילִי פּוֹטִירִין שֶׁל יַיִן לִשְׁתּוֹתוֹ וְנִכְנַס יַתּוּשׁ בְּתוֹךְ חוֹטְמוֹ וְהָיָה נוֹקֵר אֶת מֹחוֹ וְהוֹלֵךְ עַד שֶׁנַּעֲשָׂה גָּדוֹל כְּמוֹ גּוֹזָל שֶׁל שְׁתֵּי לִיטְרָאוֹת, וְהָיָה מְצַוֶּה וְאוֹמֵר, ״פִּצְעוּ מֹחוֹ שֶׁל אוֹתוֹ הָאִישׁ וּדְעוּ בַּמֶּה אֱלֹהֵיהֶם שֶׁל יְהוּדִים נִפְרַע מֵאוֹתוֹ הָאִישׁ.״ מִיָּד קָרְאוּ לָרוֹפְאִים וּפָצְעוּ מֹחוֹ וְהוֹצִיאוּ כְּגוֹזָל שֶׁל שְׁתֵּי לִיטְרָאוֹת. אָמַר רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר בַּר רַבִּי יוֹסֵי, ״אֲנָא חֲמִיתֵּיהּ בְּרוֹמִי תַּרְתֵּין לִיטְרִין מֵהָכָא וְגוֹזָלָא מֵהָכָא וּתְקַל חָד לָקֳבֵל חָד וְנָטְלוּ אוֹתוֹ וְנָתְנוּ אוֹתוֹ בְּתוֹךְ קְעָרָה אַחַת, כָּל מַה דַּהֲוָה הָדֵין שַׁנֵּי, הֲוָה הָדֵין שַׁנֵּי, פְּרַח יַתּוּשָׁה, פְּרַחָה נַפְשֵׁיהּ דְּטִיטוּס הָרָשָׁע.״
See also Vayikra Rabbah 22:3
See also Vayikra Rabbah 22:3
(Titus) went down to his 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, He exacted retribution against the generation of the Flood only with water, He exacted retribution against Pharaoh and his army only with water. I, too, when I was in His House and His domain He was unable to stand up against me, and now He has confronted me here. He believes that He will kill me in the water.’ The Holy One blessed be He said [an oath] to him: ‘Wicked one, by your life, I will exact retribution from this wicked one [Titus] with a creature that is the smallest of all the creatures I created during the six days of Creation.’ Thereupon, the Holy One blessed be He signaled to the angel of the sea and it calmed from its raging. When he reached Rome, all the residents of Rome emerged and lauded him. When he ascended to Rome [the city], he entered the bathhouse. When he emerged, they poured him a vial of a post-bath elixir with wine to drink. A gnat entered into his nose and began to continuously gnaw at his brain, until it was as large as a two-pound fowl. He [Titus] issued a command, saying: ‘Open up the brain of this man to ascertain through what instrument the God of the Jews has exacted retribution from this man.’ Thereupon, they called the surgeons, they opened up his brain and removed what was like a two-pound fowl. Rabbi Elazar bar Rabbi Yosei said: ‘I saw in Rome that [they placed] a weight of two pounds on one side [of a balance] and the bird-like growth [of Titus] on the other side, and they were equal in weight. They took it and placed it in a bowl. As it [the growth] withered, he [Titus] withered along with it. [When it returned to its natural size,] the gnat flew away and the soul of the evil Titus flew away [as well].’
אֵלּוּ מְטַמְּאִין בְּמַגָּע וּבְמַשָּׂא וְאֵינָן מְטַמְּאִין בְּאֹהֶל....הַשִּׁדְרָה וְהַגֻּלְגֹּלֶת שֶׁחָסָרוּ. כַּמָּה הוּא חֶסְרוֹן בַּשִּׁדְרָה? בֵּית שַׁמַּאי אוֹמְרִים, ״שְׁתֵּי חֻלְיוֹת״, וּבֵית הִלֵּל אוֹמְרִים, ״אֲפִלּוּ חֻלְיָה אֶחָת״. וּבַגֻּלְגֹּלֶת, בֵּית שַׁמַּאי אוֹמְרִים, כִּמְלֹא מַקְדֵּחַ, וּבֵית הִלֵּל אוֹמְרִים, ״כְּדֵי שֶׁיִּנָּטֵל מִן הַחַי וְיָמוּת״. בְּאֵיזֶה מַקְדֵּחַ אָמְרוּ? ״בַּקָּטָן שֶׁל רוֹפְאִים״, דִּבְרֵי רַבִּי מֵאִיר, וַחֲכָמִים אוֹמְרִים, ״בַּגָּדוֹל שֶׁל לִשְׁכָּה״:
(3) The following defile by contact and carriage but not by overshadowing...A spine or a skull which is deficient. How much is [considered] a deficiency in the spine? Bet Shammai say: two vertebrae, But Bet Hillel say: even one vertebra. And in the skull? Bet Shammai say: [the size of a] hole [made] by a drill, But Bet Hillel say: as much as would be taken from a living person and he would die. Of what drill did they speak? Of the small one [used] by physicians, the words of Rabbi Meir. But the sages say: of the large one in the Temple-chamber.
...בְּכָל הוּא עוֹשֶׂה שְׁלִיחוּתוֹ. בַּגְּבוֹהִים הוּא שׁוֹלֵחַ עֲלֵיהֶם דְּבָרִים נְמוּכִים לְהוֹדִיעָם שֶׁאֵין כֹּחַ גְּבוּרָתָם מְאוּמָה. טִיטוּס הָרָשָׁע נִכְנַס לְבֵית קָדְשֵׁי הַקֳּדָשִׁים וְאָמַר, ״אֵין צַר וְאוֹיֵב יָכוֹל לַעֲמֹד לְפָנַי!״ מֶה עָשָׂה הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא? שָׁלַח יַתּוּשׁ אֶחָד וְנִכְנַס בְּחוֹטְמוֹ וְהָיָה מְהַלֵּךְ וְאוֹכֵל עַד שֶׁהִגִּיעַ לְמוֹחוֹ וְנַעֲשָׂה אוֹתוֹ יַתּוּשׁ כְּמִין גּוֹזָל בֶּן יוֹנָה מִשְׁקַל שְׁנֵי לִיטְרִין, לְהוֹדִיעוֹ שֶׁאֵין כֹּחַ גְּבוּרָתוֹ מְאוּמָה..
...He has made his attack against the heavenly beings, (and God) will send against them insignificant things, to teach them that the power of their might is nought. When Titus, the wicked, entered the Holy of Holies, he said: No adversary || or enemy can prevail against me. What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do to him? He sent a single gnat, and it went into his nostril, and it ate its way into his brain. That gnat became like a young pigeon, weighing two pounds, to teach him that there was nothing at all in the might of his power...
Plutarch (c. 40–120s), Advice about Keeping Well 3
A bath has proved to be the death of many men who at the outset had not much the matter with them, save only that they could not and would not bear to taste food unless they had first had their bath; of whom Titus the Emperor was one, as those who attended him in his illness affirm.
Suetonius (c. 69–after 122), The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Domitian 2
...On the death of his father...(Domitian) never ceased to plot against his brother secretly and openly, until Titus was seized with a dangerous illness, when Domitian ordered that he be left for dead, before he had actually drawn his last breath. And after his death he bestowed no honour upon him, save that of deification, and he often assailed his memory in ambiguous phrases, both in his speeches and in his edicts.
Philostratus (c. 170s-240s), Life of Apollonius 8:26–27
...after (Titus) had occupied the throne for two years, in succession of his father, he died through eating the fish called the sea-hare; (which), according to Damis, causes secret humors in the body worse and more fatal than anything else either in the sea or on land.
And Nero, he says, introduced this sea-hare in his dishes to poison his worst enemies; and so did Domitian in order to remove his brother Titus, not because he objected to sharing his throne with his brother, but to sharing it with one who was both gentle and good...
And Nero, he says, introduced this sea-hare in his dishes to poison his worst enemies; and so did Domitian in order to remove his brother Titus, not because he objected to sharing his throne with his brother, but to sharing it with one who was both gentle and good...
Suetonius, The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Titus 10-11
(10) ...After finishing the public games, at the close of which he wept bitterly in the presence of the people, he went down to the Sabine territory, somewhat cast down because a victim had escaped as he was sacrificing and because it had thundered from a clear sky. Then at the very first stopping place he was seized with a fever, and as he was being carried on from there in a litter, it is said that he pushed back the curtains, looked up to heaven, and lamented bitterly that his life was being taken from him contrary to his deserts; for he said that there was no act of his life of which he had cause to repent, save one only. What this was he did not himself disclose at the time, nor could anyone easily divine. Some think that he recalled the intimacy which he had with his brother's wife...
(11) (Titus) died in the same farmhouse as his father, on the Ides of September, two years two months and twenty days after succeeding Vespasian, in the forty-second year of his age...
(11) (Titus) died in the same farmhouse as his father, on the Ides of September, two years two months and twenty days after succeeding Vespasian, in the forty-second year of his age...
Suetonius, The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Vespasian 24
In (Vespasian's) ninth consulship he had a slight illness in Campania, and returning at once to the city, he left for Cutiliae and the country about Reate, where he spent the summer every year. There, in addition to an increase in his illness, having contracted a bowel complaint by too free use of the cold waters, he nevertheless continued to perform his duties as emperor, even receiving embassies as he lay in bed. Taken on a sudden with such an attack of diarrhoea that he all but swooned, he said: "An emperor ought to die standing," and while he was struggling to get on his feet, he died in the arms of those who tried to help him...
Cassius Dio (c. 165-235), Roman History 66:25-26
(25) Most that (Titus) did was not characterized by anything noteworthy, but in dedicating the hunting-theatre...he produced many remarkable spectacles. There was a battle...between four elephants; animals both tame and wild were slain to the number of nine thousand; and women (not those of any prominence, however) took part in despatching them. As for the men, several fought in single combat and several groups contended together both in infantry and naval battles. For Titus suddenly filled this same theatre with water...He also brought in people on ships, who engaged in a sea-fight there...There, too, on the first day there was a gladiatorial exhibition and wild-beast hunt...On the second day there was a horse-race, and on the third day a naval battle between three thousand men, followed by an infantry battle...These were the spectacles that were offered, and they continued for a hundred days...
(26) After he had finished these exhibitions, and had wept so bitterly on the last day that all the people saw him, he performed no other deed of importance; but the next day...he passed away at the same watering-place that had been the scene of his father's death. The common report is that he was put out of the way by his brother, for Domitian had previously plotted against him; but some writers state that he died a natural death. The tradition is that, while he was still breathing and possibly had a chance of recovery, Domitian, in order to hasten his end, placed him in a chest packed with a quantity of snow, pretending that the disease required, perhaps, that a chill be administered...
(26) After he had finished these exhibitions, and had wept so bitterly on the last day that all the people saw him, he performed no other deed of importance; but the next day...he passed away at the same watering-place that had been the scene of his father's death. The common report is that he was put out of the way by his brother, for Domitian had previously plotted against him; but some writers state that he died a natural death. The tradition is that, while he was still breathing and possibly had a chance of recovery, Domitian, in order to hasten his end, placed him in a chest packed with a quantity of snow, pretending that the disease required, perhaps, that a chill be administered...
הגולגולת שהיה בה נקב אחד ארוך או שהיו בה נקבים הרבה מצטרפין למלא מקדח. אמר רבי יוסי בן המשולם, ״מעשה בעין בול אחד שנחתכה גולגלתו וטלה עליה הרופא מטלת של קרוייה וחיה!״ אמר לו ר' שמעון בן אלעזר, ״משם ראיה?! אע"פ שחיה כל ימות השנה משירדו גשמים נכנסה עליו צנה ומת!״
A skull that has a long puncture-wound, or that had many puncture-wounds: They combine together [to constitute] the size of a drill hole. Said Rabbi Yosei ben HaMeshullam, it so happened that in Ein Bul, there was one whose skull had [a piece] broken off, and the doctor brought him a patch made of a pumpkin shell, and he survived. Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar said to him, that is no proof. Even though he survived all the days of that year, once there was a rainfall, he caught cold on it (i.e., the patched skull), and he died.
[107] ...God stayed from using water to afflict them, and used the earth instead; but appointed the same minister of chastisement, who once more, when bidden, struck the ground with his staff, when a stream of gnats poured forth, and spread like a cloud over the whole extent of Egypt.
[108] Now the gnat is a very small creature, but exceedingly troublesome, for it not only causes mischief to the surface of the body, and produces an unpleasant and very noxious itching, but it forces its way inside through the nostrils and ears, and also flies into and damages the pupils of the eyes, if one does not take precautions. And what precautions would be possible against such a stream, especially when it is a chastisement sent by God?
[109] Someone perhaps may ask why He punished the land through such petty and insignificant creatures, and refrained from using bears and lions and panthers and the other kinds of savage beasts which feed on human flesh...
[110] If such a person really does not know the answer, let him learn it: first, God wished to admonish the inhabitants of the land rather than to destroy them...
[111] And after this the inquirer should be taught a further lesson, and one that is needed throughout life. What is this? When men make war, they look round to find the most powerful auxiliaries to fight beside them, and so compensate for their own weakness; but God, the highest and greatest power, needs no one. But if, at any time, He wills to use any as instruments for His vengeance, He does not choose the strongest and the greatest, of whose might He takes no account, but provides the slightest and the smallest with irresistible and invincible powers, and through them wreaks vengeance on the evil-doers. So it was in this case.
[112] For what is slighter than a gnat? Yet so great was its power that all Egypt lost heart, and was forced to cry aloud: “This is the finger of God”...
[108] Now the gnat is a very small creature, but exceedingly troublesome, for it not only causes mischief to the surface of the body, and produces an unpleasant and very noxious itching, but it forces its way inside through the nostrils and ears, and also flies into and damages the pupils of the eyes, if one does not take precautions. And what precautions would be possible against such a stream, especially when it is a chastisement sent by God?
[109] Someone perhaps may ask why He punished the land through such petty and insignificant creatures, and refrained from using bears and lions and panthers and the other kinds of savage beasts which feed on human flesh...
[110] If such a person really does not know the answer, let him learn it: first, God wished to admonish the inhabitants of the land rather than to destroy them...
[111] And after this the inquirer should be taught a further lesson, and one that is needed throughout life. What is this? When men make war, they look round to find the most powerful auxiliaries to fight beside them, and so compensate for their own weakness; but God, the highest and greatest power, needs no one. But if, at any time, He wills to use any as instruments for His vengeance, He does not choose the strongest and the greatest, of whose might He takes no account, but provides the slightest and the smallest with irresistible and invincible powers, and through them wreaks vengeance on the evil-doers. So it was in this case.
[112] For what is slighter than a gnat? Yet so great was its power that all Egypt lost heart, and was forced to cry aloud: “This is the finger of God”...