רבי חייא בר אשי הוה רגיל כל עידן דהוה נפל לאפיה הוה אמר הרחמן יצילנו מיצר הרע יומא חד שמעתינהו דביתהו אמרה מכדי הא כמה שני דפריש ליה מינאי מאי טעמא קאמר הכי
The Gemara relates: Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Ashi was accustomed to say, whenever he would fall on his face in prayer: May the Merciful One save us from the evil inclination.
One day his wife heard him saying this prayer.
She said: After all, it has been several years since he has withdrawn from engaging in intercourse with me due to his advanced years.
What is the reason that he says this prayer, as there is no concern that he will engage in sinful sexual behavior?
One day, while he was studying in his garden, she adorned herself and repeatedly walked past him.
He said: Who are you?
She said: I am Ḥaruta, a well-known prostitute, returning from my day at work.
He propositioned her.
She said to him: Give me that pomegranate from the top of the tree as payment.
He leapt up, went, and brought it to her, and they engaged in intercourse.
When he came home, his wife was lighting a fire in the oven.
He went and sat inside it.
She said to him: What is this?
He said to her: Such and such an incident occurred; he told her that he engaged in intercourse with a prostitute.
She said to him: It was I.
He paid no attention to her, thinking she was merely trying to comfort him,
until she gave him signs that it was indeed she.
He said to her: I, in any event, intended to transgress.
The Gemara relates: All the days of that righteous man he would fast for the transgression he intended to commit, until he died by that death in his misery.