Διασείων τοὺς ὑπευθύνους εἰ πέπων ἢ μὴ πέπων

[Used] with an accusative. Meaning being able to be shaken gently and easily. But Aristophanes has used the words metaphorically from fig-picking. So, just as in the case of fruits, it is possible to pick and eat from the ripe ones but not yet from the unripe ones; so also in the case of men, he is saying, Kleon was calculating and deciding who was fit to be shaken, and who was tough and hard to fight against. Instead of saying 'poor or rich', he stuck with the metaphor as in reference to figs.