This sentence, which has a surface meaning to Sir John, also states aloud Ribiera's role as a literary symbol, pertaining to a "State" as a general concept. We are already in a position to note the irony, having seen Ribiera's pathetic final act, and expanded to a symbol it suggests a devastating general indictment. A State, in Nostromo, is an instrument of conquest and repression, so when one embodies its "best elements" -- intelligence and humanitarianism -- in a character, one derives a pathetic and powerless individual at odds with the fundamental nature of his calling.