(6) Simon ben Azzai (see n. 1) was a very assiduous student
and a man of great piety. He was betrothed to the daughter of
Akiba, but separated from his prospective wife in order to
devote all of his time to study. It was said of him, "At the
death of ben Azzai, the last industrious man passed away"
(_Sotah_ IX, 15), and "He who sees ben Azzai in a dream might
hope for saintliness." He declared that the greatest
principle of Judaism is the belief in the common brotherhood
of all mankind, which he derived from the passage, Genesis VI,
1, "This is the generation of Adam (man)." See Bacher,
_ibid._, 409-424.

(7) Cf. chapter II, 1.

(8) Well-doing is the fruit of well-doing, and evil-doing the
fruit of evil-doing.

(9) Or "do not consider anything as being impossible."

4. R. Levitas of Jabneh said, "Be exceedingly lowly of spirit (10),
since the hope of man is but the worm."

(10) R. Levitas lived probably about 120 C.E. Maimonides
declares that the medium way between the extremes of the _too
little_ and the _too much_ is the path of virtue, but he makes
an exception in the case of humility, and, in accordance with
this passage, considers the extreme of being very humble the
virtue. See Gorfinkle, _The Eight Chapters_, p. 60, n. 2.

5. R. Jochanan, the son of Berokah (11), said, "Whosoever profanes the