Reference for Bava Metzia 168:19

והיינו דאמר רבי שלשה ענוותנין הן ואלו הן אבא

'In learning'. To what is the reference? — When Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel and R. Joshua b. Karhah sat on benches, R. Eleazar son of R. Simeon and Rabbi sat in front of them on the ground,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This was the usual way of study, the master sitting on a seat, the disciples on the ground. ');">¹⁷</span> raising objections and answering them. Said they, 'We drink their water [i.e., benefit from their learning], yet they sit upon the ground; let seats be placed for them!' Thus were they promoted. But R. Simeon b. Gamaliel protested: 'I have a pigeon amongst you, and ye wish to destroy it!'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' He feared that his son's promotion — he was Rabbi's father — would excite the evil eye and react to his injury. ');">¹⁸</span> So Rabbi was put down. Thereupon R. Joshua b. Karhah said: 'Shall he, who has a father, live, whilst he who has no father<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' R. Simeon b. Yohai, the father of R. Eleazar son of R. Simeon, was dead. ');">¹⁹</span> die!' So R. Eleazar son of R. Simeon too was put down, whereat he felt hurt saying, 'Ye have made him equal to me!'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Whilst he thought himself higher. — This proves the point that he was a greater scholar than Rabbi; v. also further. ');">²⁰</span> Now, until that day, whenever Rabbi made a statement, R. Eleazar son of R. Simeon supported him. But from then onward, when Rabbi said, 'I have an objection,' R. Eleazar son of R. Simeon retorted, 'If you have such and such an objection, this is your answer; now have you encompassed us with loads of answers in which there is no substance.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., R. Eleazar anticipated all his objections and answered them by shewing that there was no reality in the proposed difficulties and consequently in the answer given, and thus he accused Rabbi of being the cause of many answers which are quite unimportant. ');">²¹</span> Rabbi, being thus humiliated, went and complained to his father. 'Let it not grieve you,' he answered, 'for he is a lion, and the son of a lion, whereas you are a lion, the son of a fox.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' He has a greater scholastic ancestry than you, R. Simeon b. Yohai, his father, having been more learned than I. ');">²²</span> To this Rabbi alluded when he said, Three were humble; viz., my father,

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