the political world in contrast must have its limits,its points of discrimination,indeed its punishments and its points of discrimination,indeed its punishments and its execution of the man whom it finds guilty. The city must define its friends and its enemies as Polemarchus, following the poets, had suggested early in the dialogue , it must decide who can and who cannot participate in the debates in the assembly no matter how far the net is cast it must decide whether one is eligible and once one has served in an office whether one has performed honestly it must decide whether the decrees of the assembly accord with past traditions and so forth