is short-sighted, and his aspiration halts at nothing more than imitating them, vying with them, and treading whatever path (1) they take. Were they to squeeze themselves into a lizard’s hole, he would wish to crawl in (2) with them.

Whenever his ambition rises (3) from keeping their company (4) to keeping the company of those whose bodies are absent while their virtues and beautiful legacies are plainly visible in the world (5), he acquires a new resolve and a different way of working. He then becomes a stranger among the people—even though he may be [well-known and] (6) of noble lineage among them—yet a beloved stranger: he sees what the people are immersed in, whereas they (7) do not see what he beholds. He furnishes them with excuses as far as he can, and counsels them (8) to the fullest extent of his effort and ability, moving among them with two eyes:

• An eye that looks to command and prohibition; through it he enjoins and forbids them, shows loyalty or enmity toward them, gives them their rights and exacts his own (9) from them.

• And an eye that looks to the divine decree and pre-measurement; through it he shows them mercy, prays for them, seeks forgiveness for them, and searches out avenues of excuse for them in matters that do not (10) compromise a command.