Sanhedrin 102B

דאתפח, הדר קא דריש. אמרי: לא קבילת עלך דלא דרשת בהו? אמר: אינהו מי הדרו בהו, דאנא אהדר בי?

he recovered, he then lectured on that topic. His students said to him: Did you not undertake that you will not lecture about them? R' Abbahu said: Did they repent, that I will reconsider and refrain from condemning them?

רב אשי אוקי אשלשה מלכים. אמר: למחר נפתח בחברין. אתא מנשה, איתחזי ליה בחלמיה. אמר: חברך וחבירי דאבוך קרית לן?

One day Rav Ashi ended his lecture just before reaching the matter of the 3 kings. He said to his students: Tomorrow we will begin the lecture with our colleagues the 3 kings, who, although they were sinners, were Torah scholars like us. Manasseh, king of Judea, came and appeared to him in his dream. Manasseh said to him angrily: You called us your colleague and the colleagues of your father? How dare you characterize yourself as our equal?

מהיכא בעית למישרא המוציא? אמר ליה: לא ידענא. אמר ליה: מהיכא דבעית למישרא המוציא לא גמירת, וחברך קרית לן? אמר ליה: אגמריה לי, ולמחר דרישנא ליה משמך בפירקא. אמר ליה: מהיכא דקרים בישולא.

Manasseh said to him: I will ask you, from where are you required to begin cutting a loaf of bread when reciting the blessing: Who brings forth bread from the earth? Rav Ashi said to him: I do not know. Manasseh said to him: Even this, from where you are required to begin cutting a loaf of bread when reciting the blessing: Who brings forth bread from the earth, you did not learn, and yet you call us your colleague? Rav Ashi said to Manasseh: Teach me this halakha and tomorrow I will lecture and cite it in your name during my public lecture delivered on the Festival. Manasseh said to him: One cuts the loaf from where it crusts as a result of baking.

אמר ליה: מאחר דחכימת כולי האי, מאי טעמא קא פלחיתו לעבודה זרה? אמר ליה: אי הות התם, הות נקיטת בשיפולי גלימא ורהטת אבתראי. למחר אמר להו לרבנן: נפתח ברבוותא.

Rav Ashi said to him: Since you were so wise, what is the reason you engaged in idol worship? Manasseh said to him: Had you been there at that time, you would have taken and lifted the hem of your cloak and run after me due to the fierce desire to engage in idol worship and due to the fact that it was a common faith. The next day Rav Ashi said to the rabbis as a prelude to his lecture: We will begin with the treatment of our teachers, those kings who were greater than us in Torah knowledge but whose sins caused them to lose their share in the World-to-Come.