  Like the Sophist, the opening division in the  Statesman locates a problem with its target kind. Whereas  the sophist turned up all over the tree, the statesman turns up at a  single terminus, but he is not alone, since many rivals have a claim  to be there too. Just as the puzzle about the sophist revealed by the opening divisions indicated something significant about the essence  of a sophist, so the competition at a single terminus indicates  something significant about the essence of a statesman.