Oidipous now appears to touch upon this very point, saying that “the best” (τὰ λῶιστα) is what has all along been giving him anguish (ἀλγύνει). But what would he mean by this? He must be complaining that his efforts to do what was best for himself, his parents, and then Thebes have brought him nothing but trouble. He must be thinking back to his long-ago decision to avoid Corinth, his vanquishing the Sphinx, and his endeavors to rid Thebes of its plague. The audience, however, because it can see matters more clearly than Oidipous, understands that the service he did Thebes by defeating the Sphinx was a necessary correction to the course taken first by his parents, then by himself as they worked to negate prophecy. His judgment of “best” has manifested itself in his own worst nightmare. His complaint thus directs the audience to understand that the cause of his trouble is in fact his conviction that he must be the ultimate arbiter of what is best. Where Iokaste said that many men may dream of having intercourse with their mothers yet never do so, the audience can see that Oidipous has indeed had intercourse with his mother, though in his waking mind intending to do everything in his power to avoid it. The problem lies not in his intention to do what is best but in the limitations of his knowledge of what really is best. [Mpei] [Mw] Realizing further that the trouble of which he is presently aware is nothing in comparison with the troubles he will experience when he knows the full extent of the truth, the audience can judge for itself how terrible the consequences of acting on one’s own determination of τὰ λῶιστα can actually prove to be. Given mortal limitations on knowledge of what is actually best (as opposed to seeming to be best), how are they to proceed? Presuming that Oidipous and Iokaste are examples of what not to do, mortals are not to place great confidence in their own powers of discernment, judgment, and self-determination. The better alternative is to repose confidence in the god’s superior knowledge of what is best and to rely on his direction, how this is to be achieved. [Ap] This requires a greater faith in the god than in one’s own reason and a greater faith in the insitution of prophecy than in one’s own judgment. [Mip]