He sent him coriander (kusbarta): According to the explanation of Rashi, it is difficult. What arose in the mind of Rabbi at first to say that he should slaughter her? And it is also difficult that at the end, Rabbi reversed himself. Hence what appears [to be correct is] like Rabbenu Chananel and the Arukh - that he sent him gargira, meaning to say, "Gira committed adultery." [As] "the adulterer and the adulteress" (Leviticus 20:10) [is translated in] the Targum Yerushalmi [as] giara vegiarta. He sent him coriander (kusbarta) - "Cover (kassa) her disgrace and rebuke her in secret." But Antoninus did not understand what he sent to him and thought that he said, "Slaugther the daughter." So he sent him leeks (karti) - that is to say, "Are you giving me counsel that my offspring be cut off (yikaret)?" [So] He sent him, lettuce (chasa) - that is to say, "I only sent to you that you should have pity (tachus) on her," meaning, "I told you to cover [up for] her."

He would kill one at the entrance of the house of Rabbi: And if you will say (ask): And is not the spilling of blood (murder) one of the seven [universal] commandments? And it is even forbidden to a Jew, for behold it was taught (below, Avodah Zarah 26a), "Idolaters and shepherds of small domesticated animals - we do not raise them [out of a pit], but we don't lower them [into it]." It can be said (answered) that he was afraid lest they would make the thing known to the ministers and they would cause him to be killed; and we say if someone comes to kill you, arise early to kill him. And it can also be said (answered) that he chose the heretics and the denouncers. For even though there are no [disqualifications on account of being from the] heretics among the [other] nations, concerning the acceptance of sacrifices from them; concerning lowering, there are - as it is challenged in the first chapter of Chullin (13b), "Now if one lowers a Jewish [heretic] into a pit, is it necessary [to say that one lowers a gentile one]?"

He said to him, "If so, tell that servant who is standing at the entrance, etc.": Rabbi Elchanan explained that we do not teach [the version], "If so." As if he had said it, Rabbi Chanina should have understood that he was dead. As if he was [only] asleep, what power is there in awakening a person from his sleep? We say in a Midrash, "Milk renders impure, milk renders pure: When Rabbi was born, they decreed not to circumcise; but his father and his mother circumcised him. The Caesar sent and brought Rabbi and his mother before him. But his mother exchanged him with Antoninus and nursed him, until she brought him before Caesar. So he found him uncircumcised and dismissed them peacefully. Yet that leader said, 'I saw that they circumcised that one; but the Holy One, blessed be He, does miracles for them at every instant.' So they rescinded the decree." And we say similarly in the Yerushalmi that in the end, Antinonus studied Torah, converted and circumcised himself.

All Her Princes, Not All Her Officers The text doesn't read "officers," but rather "princes," as the verse states "her kings and all her princes." Rabbeinu Yitzhak explains that "prince" (nasi) here refers to the elder discussed in Josephus. The Romans had vowed not to have a king because of a previous king who seized a woman. They appointed an elder with three hundred advisors instead. Later, someone forced his way into rulership. His mother died giving birth, her stomach was split open, and he was found alive inside. He was called Caesar, meaning "cut" in Hebrew, and this became the title for all subsequent Roman emperors.

Woe to the Generation That Departs Without a Bris But didn't the Gemara exclude Antoninus, saying he had a share in the World to Come even without circumcision? Perhaps he eventually did undergo circumcision. The Yerushalmi (Yerushalmi Megillah 1:11:4) relates that Antoninus asked Rebbi if he would feed him Leviathan in the World to Come. Rebbi said yes. Antoninus then pointed out that Rebbi wouldn't let him eat the Passover sacrifice, but would feed him Leviathan. Rebbi replied, "What can I do? The verse says the uncircumcised cannot eat it." Upon hearing this, Antoninus went and had himself circumcised. This is why it's said he converted.