Rabban Gamliel, R. El'azar ben Azarya, R.
Y'hoshu'a, and R. Akiba were walking on the road. And they heard the noise
of the city of (Babylon) [Rome] from its streets at a distance of 120
mil.
They began to cry, but R. Akiba smiled.
They said to him: "Why are you smiling?"
He said to them: "And you, why are you crying?"
They said to him: "These pagans, who worship idols and burn incense
to statues, dwell in safety; and we-the house of the footstool of our
God is burnt in fire, how could we not cry?"
He said to them: "This is why I smile: If this is [the lot] of those
who disobey His will, those who fulfill His will how much more so!"
Again, once they were going up to Jerusalem, and when they reached Mount
Scopus they rent their garments.
When they reached the Temple Mount they saw a fox as it was running out
of the House of Holy of Holies. They began to cry, but Akiba smiled.
They said to him: "Why are you smiling?"
And he said to them: "Why are you crying?"
They said to him: "The place about which it is written, The common
man that draweth high shall be put to death (Num. 1:51), now foxes
walk in it, and shall we not cry?"
He said to them: "This is why I smile. For it is written, I will
take unto Me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest and Zechariah
son of Berechiahu (lsa. 8:2). What is the connection between Uriah
and Zechariah, since Uriah [lived] in [the days of] the First Temple,
and Zechariah in [those of] the Second? However, Scripture made the prophecy
of Zechariah dependent on the prophecy of Uriah. It is written that Uriah
said, Because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field (Mic. 3:13;
Jer. 26:18, 20). And it is written that Zechariah said, There shall
yet old men and old women sit in the streets of Jerusalem (Zech.
8:4). Before the prophecy of Uriah was fulfilled I was afraid lest the
prophecy of Zechariah would not be fulfilled. Now that the prophecy of
Uriah has been fulfilled, I know that the prophecy of Zechariah will be
fulfilled in this language [i.e. literally]."
They said to him: "Akiba, you have comforted us; Akiba, you have
comforted us."
Source: Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Makkot 24a-b