They asked the elders in Rome: If He does not want idol worship, why does He not make it cease? They (the Sages) said to them: If they [the idolaters] would worship something which the world does not need, He would make it cease. But they worship the sun, the moon, the stars, and the constellations; should He destroy His world because of the fools! They said to them [to the Sages]: If so, let Him destroy the [idolatrous] things which the world does not need, and leave the [idolatrous] things which the world does need. They said to them: [Then] we, too, would lend support to the worshipers of these, be-cause they [would] say: You must perceive the proof that they are gods, for they have not ceased.