The date of composition can only be conjectured. It is almost certain that sections 5-8 are the work of one editor, who lived after the completion of the Babylonian Talmud. One needs only to compare the maxim לעולם (in 5:2) with Sanhedrin 23a and Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Mishpaṭim 20 to see that the compiler had the Talmud before him. The next maxim is a combination of Eruvin 65b and Avot of Rabbi Natan, ed. כל המתנבל S. Schechter, 32:68. In addition, Avot of Rabbi Natan 8, Midrash Mishlei 9:9, Pesikta Rabbati 8, כל זמן, and probably Derekh Eretz Rabbah were also used.