Straw
Dikaiopolis tells of how he, in contrast to the Commissioner, sleeps on straw each night. This is a symbol of his poverty and also the poverty of the State and how the Assemblymen in contrast live in great luxury which they consider suffering.
Peace
Dikaiopolis purchases peace for himself for eight drachmas from Amphitheus. This is a symbol of Dikaiopolis no longer waiting for the resolution of peace to come from the Assemblymen. He knows he must purchase it as it will never come for the people.
Empty
The Pnyx is empty save Dikaiopolis in the beginning of the play. This is a symbol that the Assembly is a group that is meant to serve the people, but their passions lie primarily for their own needs, and service is merely an opportunity to present a mask to the State and the people which live in it.
Drop of Rain
Dikaiopolis tells of a drop of rain falling from the sky. It is a symbol, as he states, of Heaven frowning upon this Assembly in the midst of their inability to truly serve and seek peace.
Shah of Persia
The Commissioner tells the Assembly that the East has promised gold to their city. But, the Shah of Persia says clearly they are giving no gold to them. This is a symbol of the ineptitude of the Commissioner - that in the years that he has been away in Persia he doesn't even have a clear sense of what he was doing there.
