Iokaste has changed her perspective; she begs Oidipous “by the gods” to leave off insisting on the exertion of his will; she seems at last to have recognized the extent to which the gods are involved in their lives, and in her mind, even if for her it is clearly too late, he might still be saved, for he is apparently still enjoying good health, while she is ill. Yet the audience will not share her perception; Oidipous’s illness is manifest in the plague that besets the entire city. Indeed, the metaphor of health and illness will remind the audience of the plagues in both Thebes and Athens. [Gt-a] [Mw] Iokaste and Oidipous are not only ill, they seem to be the source of the city’s illness of infertility. Iokaste suffers from over-fertility; she has conceived far beyond what is appropriate for her, as is reflected by her concern for Oidipous to remain clear of suffering expresses, for her deep commitment to his wellbeing seems to be that of a mother or a wife, or both. This underscores the fact that medical illness is a metaphor; the real illness is moral. It can be traced to the disobedience of the god’s instructions, the belief that one can outfox or outrun a god, evade a god’s power, escape a god’s action, shun a god’s aid, or decline to put oneself in a god’s service. [P]