Given both the state and contents of her mind (the opposite of her self-evaluation three lines before: φρονοῦσά γ᾽ εὖ), Oidipous realizes that Iokaste cannot be of any further use to him in pursuing the matter at hand, and so he turns his thoughts to the shepherd he has had her summon. Only after repeating his summons and thus giving expression to the urgency of his need to question this witness does he comment again upon (but not directly to) his wife: “Leave her to glory in her wealthy family!” he admonishes the Chorus, thereby indicating that in his eyes she is now a lost cause, not even deserving of a kind word. His treatment of her is based on a presumption that her efforts to thwart his investigation have been based on an all-consuming class consciousness. His presumption of her egotism has alienated her from him is yet another error to add to all those already made and for which he must already pay. He has misjudged the god, misjudged Teiresias, misjudged Kreon, and now misjudges Iokaste. He thought the god did not honor him, that Teiresias was selfish or had sold his services to gain favor with Kreon, and thinks now that Iokaste is concerned above all with her social standing. Of course social standing should be important for a ruler, as the Chorus has more than once pointed out, because the ruler’s standing derives from the service he or she can render the city. If the city is thriving and healthy, the ruler’s standing will be high. If the city is in the grips of plague and war, his or her standing will be low. [Mg] This suggests that Oidipous is too quick to infer that any contradiction of his own judgment, whether from god, Oracle, seer, fellow civic administrator, or family member is a sign of petty designs. [Mpea] It is not at all unlikely that the members of the Athenian audience have themselves attributed the Oracle’s promise of a Spartan victory over Athens to Delphi’s wish to curry favor with Sparta, to a Spartan bribe to the Delphic administrators of the Oracle, or to the god’s partiality to those aligned against Athens. [Gt-a] [Mi] If Athens can see itself in Oidipous, it can see the error and futility in these conclusions. [Mw]