'ABOTH (Pirgè 'Abòth, "Chapters of the Fathers"). Treatise IX of the fourth order of the Mišnáh (v.), not followed by the commentary or gémará. It has no logical connection with the treatises in which it is inserted, but contains moral sayings, proverbs, and domestic advice on the lips of the "Fathers" (v. Ab), namely the principal masters who elaborated the juridical material of the Mišnáh (1st–2nd century).
The usual title is sometimes modified to Mesékheth 'A. (Text of the Fathers) or Mišnah hasidim (Teaching of the Pious). To the original five chapters a sixth was later added: the "Chapter of Rabbi Meir," also called "The Acquisition of the Law."
The first two chapters, besides their practical aim of moral instruction, seek to show that the oral tradition contained in the Mišnáh goes back, through an unbroken chain of authorities, to the primitive revelation given by God to Moses: "Moses received the Law on Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the Elders, the Elders to the Prophets, the Prophets to the men of the Great Synagogue. They used to say three things: be circumspect in judgment, raise up many disciples, and make a fence around the Law" (Aboth, I, 1). From this period (4th–3rd century B.C.), beginning with Simeon the Just, "one of the last survivors of the Great Synagogue," the schoolmasters are enumerated, each assigned a saying. Many other names of famous masters appear in the other chapters, though the principle of arrangement is not clear.
Besides inculcating reverence for the Torah, these maxims concern the method of teaching, the conduct of the masters, the duties of disciples and masters toward the people; many, dealing with moral duties, justice, and love of neighbor, are of high ethical content. For this reason the Pirgè 'A. have remained in great honor in Judaism. It is the part of the Mišnáh that most interests the masses, and it has been translated into Latin many times since the 16th century and into many modern languages.
'Ab-Rabbí-Nathán is a similar treatise in content, so titled because the first saying recorded is that of the tannait Rabbi Nathan.