This affirmation means that the Athenians had a different idea of citizenship. Athenians believed that everyone should participate in politics because a man that did not do so was “useless”. This means that different than the Romans, for example, Athenians made possible for poor and common man to participate along with rich men.
Romans had a different view of citizenship and believed that citizens were the ones who had land and money, this means that poor people did not have a say in the government’s decisions.