When Oidipous bids the stranger “before the gods” to deliver whatever insight may relieve him of his pains, the audience will understand that if Oidipous is to be disabused of his errors, his invocation of divine assistance must be more than an empty formula, for it appears that he is already in fact receiving a course of instruction designed and administered by Apollo expressly for him. Thus, the audience can see that his bidding will be done, but only because the god has devised a plan to get around Oidipous’s limitations. The piety in his appeal to do this “before the gods” is thus shaded negatively by his failure to appreciate the extent to which the god is always already present and interested. It is foolish, arrogant, and impious for Oidipous to speak as though the god comes only at his bidding and to act as if he can ignore and even elude the god when the god’s interested engagement does not suit him. [Md] [P] [Ad] [Apa]