said the other, "let us go by the latter, and curb our desires; so shall
we receive a reward in recompense." In this resolution they went on, and
as they passed the place the women humbled themselves before them and
withdrew ashamed into their chambers. Then Yochanan asked the other,
"How didst thou know that this would occur to us?" He made answer, "From
what is written (in Prov. ii. 2), 'Discretion (in the law) shall
preserve thee.'"

_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 17, cols. 1, 2.

Given two dry firebrands and one piece of green wood, the dry will set
fire to the green.

_Sanhedrin_, fol 93, col. 1.

With two dogs they caught the lion.

Ibid., fol. 95, col. 1.

Both these proverbs express the same idea, that a minority, be
it ever so strong, must give way to a majority.

"And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed together"
(Numb. xxii. 7). Midian and Moab were never friendly toward each other;
they were like two dogs tending a flock, always at variance. When the
wolf came upon the one, however, the other thought, "If I do not help my
neighbor to-day, the wolf may come upon myself to-morrow;" therefore the
two dogs leagued together and, killed the wolf. Hence, says Rabbi Pappa,
the popular saying, "The mouse and the cat are combined to make a feast
on the fat of the unfortunate."