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R. Abin the Levite said: Whoever tries to force his [good] fortune will be dogged by [ill] fortune,⁴

and whoever forgoes his [good] fortune will postpone his [ill] fortune.⁵

This we can illustrate from the case of Rabbah and R. Joseph.

For R. Joseph was ‘Sinai’⁶  and Rabbah was ‘an uprooter of mountains’.⁷

The time came when they were required [to be head of the Academy].⁸

They [the collegiates] sent there [to Israel] to ask, As between ‘Sinai’ and an ‘uprooter of mountains’, which should have the preference?

They sent answer: Sinai, because all require the owner of wheat.⁹

Nevertheless, R. Joseph would not accept the post, because the astrologers had told him that he would be head for only two years.

Rabbah thereupon remained head for twenty-two years, and R. Joseph after him for two years and a half.¹⁰

During all the time that Rabbah was head, R. Joseph did not so much as summon a cupper to come to his house.¹¹

[Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Berakoth, Folio 64a]

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