When the stranger from Corinth says “pulling back” he echoes the word introduced and then repeated by Oidipous when voicing his conviction that as long as his mother is alive he must pull back (ὀκνεῖν; ll. 976 and 986) from her bed. The present object for this verb is the fear of both incest and parricide. Oidipous’s emotional recoil from the thought of intercourse with mother and killing father is associated with physical recoil from his home in Corinth, but also from Delphi and the prophecy received received there. [Md] Oidipous’s recoil from Delphi will have been appreciated in Athens, whose citizenry will have felt just this emotion upon receiving the news that Delphi had promised Sparta the victory. [Mi] Yet as Oidipous’s recoil from Delphi hurled him headlong into the abhorred encounters with father and mother, so Athens’ recoil from Delphi can be expected to hurl the city headlong into the abhorred defeat. [Gt-a] Athens’ self-exile or alienation from other Greek cities will do nothing to ameliorate this outcome. [Mw]