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.