his answer was, as it turned out 5,000,

他的答案是五千
but he really wasn't interested in that number.

但他事实上对这一数字并不感兴趣
What he was interested in was the criteria for participation

他感兴趣的是加入政府的基本标准
in government and that was to be a hoplite,

即曾任重装备步兵
to have the wealth necessary to fight in the infantry for your city.

并有支持步兵团为你的城邦而战的财力
In a later sense, it's not too much later,

后来人们意识到也不算太后
it was discovered that the number of men in Athens who actually

雅典人中实际符合这一标准的
fit that description was not 5,000,but 9,000

有九千人而非五千
and at a time when the Athenian population of adult males

而当时雅典成年男性的人口总数
was something like 21,000,

约为两万一千人
so that nine out of twenty one would have been the people

因此每二十一人中有九人
who participated in the regime;

可以加入政权