Describe the rope dancing in Gulliver's Travels. Who does it? Why do they do it?

One day, after Gulliver has impressed the emperor and people with his gentleness and docility, the emperor decides to entertain Gulliver by allowing the visitor to watch the rope dancers who "performed upon a slender white thread, extended about two feet, and twelve inches from the ground."
Rope dancing is performed by those individuals who wish to present themselves for important public offices and "high favor" in the court. Whenever a "great office" becomes available, a half dozen people will petition to perform these rope dances for the emperor and "whoever jumps the highest, without falling, succeeds in the office." Thus, people rope dance in order to acquire their positions in the government. In fact, people who have been in their positions for a long time sometimes have to perform for the emperor in order to prove that they are still qualified for their positions.
It's a pretty ridiculous way for people to qualify for their jobs—rather than, oh I don't know, proving that they are intelligent, articulate, mature, and so on—and, in this way, Swift satirizes his own countrymen and the way they qualify for important government positions.