It is clear that the straight path is the good actions which we have elucidated in the fourth chapter (Eight Chapters 4), and they are the virtues of moderation. As through them a person acquires a fine disposition and he will have a good way with people. And he said it is "praiseworthy for the person adopting [it], And praiseworthy to him from [other] people." And afterwards, he said that he needs to be careful with a commandment that he thinks is light - like rejoicing in the holiday, and study of the Holy Tongue - as with a commandment the great weightiness of which is clear to you - like circumcision and tsitsit (fringes) and slaughtering of the Pesach sacrifice. And there the reason for this is for you do not know the reward given [for the fulfillment] of [the respective] commandments. And the elucidation of this matter is as I will say. And it is that the entire Torah has positive commandments and negative commandments. It is true that Scripture elucidated the punishment of each negative commandment except for a few of them. And one is obligated the death penalties for some of them and excision and death at the hand of the Heavens and lashes for some of them. And we know from all of the punishments of the negative commandments which of the prohibitions are great and which ones of them are below them. And they are eight levels: The first level - and it is the greatest of them - are those things for which one is obligated stoning. And the one below it are the ones that obligate burning. And the third are the ones that obligate killing (decapitation). And the fourth are the ones that obligate strangling. And the fifth are ones that obligate excision. And the sixth are ones that obligate death at the hand of the Heavens. And the seventh are ones that obligate lashes. And the eighth are negative commandments for which we do not give lashes. And from these levels we can know what is the weightiness of a sin or its lightness. But what is the reward from God, may He be blessed, of each of the positive commandments is not elucidated. And all of this is so that we do not know which commandment requires that we keep it much and which commandment is below it. Rather He commanded to do matter x and y and He did not make known the reward of which one of them is greater from God, may He be blessed. And because of this one needs to be careful about all of them. And because of this principle, they said (Sukkah 25a), "One who is engaged in a commandment is exempt from [another] commandment," without comparing [the weight of] the commandment that he is involved in to the other one from which he is refraining. And for this, they also said (Pesachim 64b et. al.), "We do not skip over commandments," meaning to say that when you chance upon the performance of a commandment, do not skip over it and leave it to do another commandment. And afterwards he said that even though the [relative] desirability of each commandment is not elucidated, there is an angle of comparison. And that is that every positive commandment wherein you find that one who transgresses it is obligated a great punishment, know that there is also a great reward in doing [the commandment]. And the example of this is that circumcision, slaughtering the Pesach sacrifice, resting on the seventh [day] and the making of a parapet are all positive commandments. Yet the obligation of one who does work on Shabbat is stoning, but the one who refrains from circumcision or the sacrifice on the holiday is obligated [only] excision and the one who 'places blood in his house' (by refraining from setting up a parapet) violates a negative commandment [without a tangible punishment], and that is that which is stated (Deuteronomy 22:8), "do not place blood in your house." And from here you know that the reward of Shabbat is greater than the reward of circumcision and the reward of circumcision is greater with God, may He be blessed, than the reward of making a parapet. And that is the matter of his saying, "Also, weigh the loss [that may be sustained through the fulfillment] of a commandment against the reward [that may be obtained] for [fulfilling] it." And he also said "the gain of a transgression," when you do not do it - this too is not elucidated. However you can learn it from the punishment of the sin. When the sin for which the sinner was punished is great, the reward for his refraining from it is according to that level of greatness, as is elucidated in Kiddushin 39b in their saying, "Anyone who sits and does not commit a sin is given a reward like the one who does a commandment" - and we have already explained it there. And the expression of the Torah of actions being known to Him, may He be blessed, is like that when our teacher Moshe, peace be upon him, stated (Exodus 32:32), "from Your book that you have written."

By derekh erets (the way of the world), he meant involvement in a livelihood. And his saying, "and leads to sin" is as I explained it in another place [about] their saying (Kiddushin 29a), "In the end he will steal from the creatures." And about his saying, "And as for you, I credit you with a great reward, as if you [yourselves] had done it [on your own]," it is the word of God to those who work for the community. As sometimes they are prevented from doing a commandment while they are occupied with the needs of the community. And he said that God, may He be blessed, counts the reward upon them as if they had done that commandment even though they did not do it, since they were involved with the needs of the community for the [sake of the] name of Heaven.

We have already explained (Rambam Pirkei Avot 1:10) that the government (rishut) is the authorities in the early days. And he is recounting their traits and warning about them.

We have already made known in the fourth chapter that there is no reason to separate from the community except due to their dereliction, as we explained over there. And he said that even though a person has a distinctive character trait in his soul and he has strengthened it, he should not remove his hand from redoubling his doing good and adding to its reinforcement. And he should not be be certain [about it] and say, "This virtue has already reached my hand and it is impossible that it will fall away." As it is possible that it will fall away. And that is [the meaning] of his saying, "until the day of your death."

And something that cannot be heard is that the simple meaning of the words be very distant and negligible. And [only] when the person examines them carefully will he see that they are true words. And he warns against this path of speech, as he says, "Do not have your words require a distant explanation and extra examination and [only] then will the listener understand them."

"When I will be available": He means with this, when I am available from this business (not busy). And this is similar to what preceded of the commands of his colleague, Shammai (Avot 1:15), "Make your Torah fixed."

A boor (bur) is one who does not have wisdom nor [proper] traits. And an ignorant person (literally, a man of the land - am haarets) is one who does not have intellectual virtues but he would have some character virtues. And [the meaning of] a person prone to being ashamed is known. And an impatient person is one who is impatient about everything and gets angry. And the matter of striving is to accustom your soul and lead it to acquire the virtues. And since there are no wise men [there] to teach you, you should teach yourself. And the [Aramaic] translation of (Genesis 32:25), "and a man struggled with him" is "and a man strived with him" (Onkelos Genesis 32:25). And they said that the Torah is not found with men of pride and arrogance and not with those that go to far lands. And they supported this by way of a flourish with a verse and said (Eruvin 55a), "'It is not in the heavens, that you should say, etc. Neither is it beyond the sea, etc.' (Deuteronomy 30:12-13)." They said, "It is not with the arrogant (who elevate themselves like the sky) and it is not with those that go across the sea."

He means to say that you were killed because you killed someone else. And the one who killed you will be be killed in the future. The intent of this statement is that bad actions will return upon the head of their doers, as he stated (Proverbs 5:22), "The wicked man will be trapped in his iniquities." And he stated (Psalms 7:16), "He has dug a pit and deepened it, [etc.]." And the sages said (Sanhedrin 90a), "With the measure that a person measures, [so] is he measured." And it is something that is apparent to the eye at every moment and every time and every place that anyone who does evil and creates types of violence and vice is himself injured by those same evils that he created - since he taught the craft that would cause damage to him and to others. And so [too regarding] anyone who teaches a virtue [in] that he creates a good action from the good, a benefit of that action will reach him - since he taught a thing that will do good to him and to others. And the words about this in the verse are very good - he stated (Job 34:11), "For He pays a man his action."

He praised Rabbi Eliezer [for] his good memory in comparing him to a plastered pit that does not lose its waters. And he praised Rabbi Yehoshua [for] the virtues of character, in that through them is a person made happy and honored and most of the world will love him. And because of this the one who gave birth to him is happy with him. And he praised Rabbi Yose [for] virtues of good character and intellectual virtues. He praised Rabbi Shimon [for] fear of sin - and that is carefulness and striving with matters of involvement in the good and guarding from evil. And he praised Rabbi Elazar ben Arakh [for] good understanding and that every deep matter was easy for him and that his comprehension added to the [discussion].

A good eye: Sufficing with what a person has and this is from the virtues of character. And a bad eye is its opposite - meaning to say, the belittling of the things [that he has] and eagerness for increase. And his saying here, "who sees the future," the matter of which is that he studies what will be in the future from what is found now, is not from the wisdoms that it should be an intellectual virtue, and that its understanding is that he study that which is hidden from that which is revealed. Rather, what he wants with it here is the analysis about the matters of a man from his affairs through which his existence will continue, that he should investigate the end of his affairs. And he brought a metaphor corresponding to this, and that is his saying, one who borrows but does not repay, that he will not lend him another thing - and that is of the traits of vice. "But the righteous one gives graciously" (Psalms 37:21) - that is the Righteous One of the world, and He is God, may He be blessed, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 32:4), "righteous and straight is He"; and (Nehemiah 9:33), "You are righteous about all that comes upon us." The explanation is that He is generous to the man that lends to his fellow and he doesn't repay, [for] the Holy One, blessed be He, pays him in exchange for his service that he bestowed kindness to another to lend him until his hand could acquire his lacking. And when the hand [of the borrower] found it and did not pay back his lender, God, may He be blessed, paid him [instead]. And the matter of "seeing his words" is to choose and to distinguish - from the matter of "The Lord did not see" (Lamentations 3:36), the intention of which is He did not choose. And he distinguished that everything was included in his words [when] he said "a bad heart." And we have already explained in the second chapter of our introduction to the commentary on this tractate (Eight Chapters 2:2) that all of the character virtues are only found in the appetitive section of the soul. And in it are also found all of the character vices. And we have elucidated in the fourth chapter (Eight Chapters 4) that the actions that are good are the moderate actions which come from the virtues of character. And so [too] is it known among the philosophers and physicians that the appetitive soul is in the heart and [that] its chamber and its instruments are attributed to the heart. And even though all of the capabilities are diffused from the heart and it is its beginning according to the true opinion, the appetitive capability does not spread from it to another organ, in the way that the nutritive capability - I mean to say the vegetative capability that we discussed in the first chapter (Eight Chapters 1:7) - spreads from the heart to the liver. And understand that from everything we have elucidated that what he wanted with a good heart are the good action and they are the moderate actions and they are the virtues of character. And it includes contentment and the love of the good and others of the virtues besides this. And that is what he said, "For your words are included in his."

And do not be easy to anger: Do not prepare yourself to anger and irritability. And they have already gone far in disgracing anger and irritability. And the strongest of their words is their saying (Shabbat 105b), "Anyone who gets angry is as if he worships idols." And they made it adjacent to his saying (Psalms 81:10), "You shall have no foreign god, you shall not bow to an alien god" - meaning to say that the two things are one.

and repent one day before your death: And [since] he does not know when he will die - maybe today or maybe tomorrow - all of his days will be in repentance. But his saying, "And warm yourself by the fire of the sages," is not from their words with which he educated them, but rather is what he heard from someone else but he would [nonetheless] recount it. And because of this it was not counted among his [three] things. And the intention of this command that he is telling you is that when you associate with the sages and with men of virtues, do not be playful with them and do not be arrogant towards them, but let your association be to let them know that you will approach them at the time that they will bring you close. And do not add to come closer to them than that which they have brought you close - that you not lose their intention about you, and you reverse their love to hate and the benefit that you hoped to get from them not reach you. And he compared this to one who warms himself by the fire - as if he sits far from it, he will enjoy its heat and get benefit from its light. But if he is negligent with himself and continues to get closer to it, he will get burnt and the benefit will turn into damage. And this is the content of his saying metaphorically, "And warm yourself by the fire of the sages, but be cautious around their coals that you should not be burned." And afterwards he added to frighten about this and he said, "Do not think that if they bite you with their tongues that you will come back and appease them with your words and they will be appeased." As truly they will not listen to the voice of a charmer like the Seraph does not listen to it, as it stated (Psalms 55:6), "Which does not hear the voice of charmers." And you should know this from the matter of Gechazi in that which he was audacious in front of his teacher, Elisha, and who fell into a disgusting disease, as is elucidated from the words of the sages about the matter of the four men who were "leprous" (metsuarim). And so [too] with Rabbi Yehoshua ben Perachiah and with all of them is the damage that came to them elucidated - and with others that 'burnt their stew.'

He said that exuberance for money and much desire and badness of the soul - and that is sickness of the black bile which brings a man to be disgusted with that which his eyes see and he will hate it and he will prefer the company of animals and isolation in wildernesses and in forests and he will choose an uninhabited place, and this is with them not because of asceticism but rather because of the lack of desire and their jealousy of others - these will, without a doubt, kill a man. As his body will get sick and he will die before his time.

We have already explained in the eighth chapter (Eight Chapters 8) the matter of preparation and readiness that is needed for a person to prepare himself for the virtues. And we explained in the fifth chapter (Eight Chapters 5:8) the matter of his saying, All of your actions should be for the sake of Heaven..

When a man thinks of himself as lacking [virtue] and low, a lacking will not seem [too] big in his eyes for him to do it. And we have already explained that the matter of "fixed" (keva) is that prayer be heavy upon him and he will consider it as if he were commanded a particular chore and then he can rest from it.

The matter of diligence (shkeidah) is from the language of the verse, "as I am diligent upon my word" (Jeremiah 1:12) - meaning to say, quick and energetic. Or its meaning would be, habit and constancy, as in "to be diligent at my doors each day" (Proverbs 8:34).

know what to respond to one who denigrates the Torah (epikoros): He said that you need to study things which you can respond to the epikoros from the [gentiles] and disagree with them and answer them if they challenge you. And they said, (Sanhedrin 38b), "They only taught about the gentile epikoros, but with the Jewish epikoros, if you answer him, all the more so will he rebel" - meaning to say, he will denigrate [even] more. And because of this, there is no need to speak with him at all, as he has no redemption and he has completely no cure at all - as it is stated (Proverbs 2:19, "All who go to her cannot return, and they will not find the paths of life." And he said, "Even though you study the opinions of the nations to know what to answer them, guard yourself that anything from these opinions come into your heart; and know that the One before whom you serve knows what is hidden in your heart." And this is his saying, "Know before Whom you labor" - wanting to say that he direct his heart to faith in God, may He be blessed.

This is a metaphor for the brevity of years and multitude of wisdoms and the laziness of men to seek it, in spite of the great reward for them and the multitude of notices in the Torah and its warnings to seek wisdom and study.

In the future to come: He meant to say in the world to come. And we have already elucidated the [concept of the] world to come in the tenth chapter of Sanhedrin, with that which is fit to mention about it.