Interpreting the herdsman’s words as a simple indication that he will answer once he knows what is wanted of him, Oidipous repeats the question he posed at l. 1150, but in the process, he has changed the question; the relative clause at first referred to “the child,” but now its antecedent is “the man.” is now attached to a different antecedent; the question is now has become genuinely confusing. Where at first he asked the Theban, “Did you give the child to this man here?” (meaning the Corinthian), now he asks “Did you give the child to this man here about whom this man asks?” If the situation were not so awful, the language would suggest an inane play on language of the kind now heard in the “Who’s on first?” routine. To straighten this out, the audience has to understand that Oidipous is on first, for the Corinthian cannot of course be asking about himself; he is asking about the child, who happens also to be present and can also be described as “this man here”—Oidipous. Oidipous can be understood to be enquiring about himself, for he is (or was) that child. It is he who has returned to ask about himself. The inanity of the wording confers a degree of absurdity upon the proceedings that Oidipous is conducting. He is running a procedurally exact investigation that entails careful refraint from drawing obvious conclusions. As Bob Dylan sings in John Birch Society Blues: “Now you’ll find me at home investigatin’ myself . . . hope I don’t find out nothin’!” The confusion seems to betray an agitation, caused not, however, by the discovery that he has killed his father and married his mother, but rather by his having to repeat himself. Given the audience’s developing insight sinto the importance of exactitude when framing questions to put to the Pythia (cf. m1155.3), it may make an inference about Oidipous’s interview at Delphi. Contrary to his own narrative, which tells that Apollo dismissed him from the sacred precinct, it must have been Oidipous who grew impatient and broke off the consultation. Agitation, the audience might now understand, leads either to breaking off questioning before clarity has been obtained or to posing ambiguous questions, which can only lead to confusing answers. [Md] [Mpe] [Mipd] [Dnc]