Again, however, I must emphasize that the Talmud text is not decisive on this question. It never quite rules for tricksters or for martyrs.
Our next talmudic hero, in any case, is anything but a trickster:
They brought Rabbi Hanina the son of Teradyon, and said to him: "Why did you engage in Torah?" He said to them: "For thus the Lord my G d has commanded me!" They immediately sentenced him to burning, and his wife to execution [by the sword, and his daughter to sit in a prostitute's booth.