“For, ah! ’tis hard to break \ From all your lifelong habits; \ Yet some the change have made, \ With other minds consorting, \ By other counsels swayed.”
~ ‘The Wasps’ by Aristophanes (Benjamin B. Rogers translation. GB5 - p. 524)
The play opens with two slaves, Sosias and Xanthias, talking to each other about being tired of guarding their master, Bdelycleon’s elderly father, Philocleon. Through their conversation, we get to know that Philocleon has developed an obsession to do jury service, and his son has imprisoned him due to this. Philocleon makes several escape attempts, but they are all thwarted by his son and his servants.
The Chorus of Wasps, elderly men who are also jurors, comes to the home in search of their fellow juror Philocleon, and a confrontation ensues between them and Bdelycleon. To resolve the conflict, Bdelycleon proposes to debate with his father about whether jury service is good or harmful.