As Oidipous makes an explicit request of all those present to give some indication of the shepherd’s identity or whereabouts, his eyes rove over the crowd, imagining that someone in it might at this moment point out the shepherd. The one Theban he probably does not look at is Iokaste, who stands not just “close” but closest of all. But if she is ready to point anyone out, it should be Oidipous, whom she should be able to identify by the signs that have been provided, such as the injured heels, the rescure of an infant with swollen heels, the infant’s origin in Laios’ territory, Oidipous’s appearance, his age, his story of the killing at the crossroads, and Teiresias’s accusation. Does she still not see that the prophecies have all been fulfilled? Does she not see that her husband is impossibly obdurate in clinging to the possibility, no matter how remote, that he did not kill Laios? Is she afraid to share with him the inescapable conclusion that he is the child of Laios, that he was saved from death by a shepherd and passed to another shepherd who carried him to safety in Corinth, and that she is his mother? Her suffering must be unbearable. [Mpei] [Md] [Mw]