Commentary for Sanhedrin 196:3

אמר עולא ייתי ולא איחמיניה וכן אמר [רבה] ייתי ולא איחמיניה רב יוסף אמר ייתי ואזכי דאיתיב בטולא דכופיתא דחמריה

Rabbah said likewise: Let him come, but let me not see him. R. Joseph said: Let him come, and may I be worthy of sitting in the shadow of his ass's saddle.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [Following the reading in Yalkut (v. Levy,) [H]. Our texts read: [H], 'dung'.] ');">⁵</span> Abaye enquired of Rabbah: 'What is your reason [for not wishing to see him]? Shall we say, because of the birth pangs [preceding the advent] of the Messiah?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' These troubles are generally referred to as birth pangs, being the travail which precedes the birth of a new era. ');">⁶</span>

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