By burying the indefinite subject τις (“one”) in the middle of his statement, the witness again finds a way of providing as little information as possible. He does, however, describe the child as one of “Laios’ begettings.” From Iokaste’s narrative, however, Laios and she can be presumed only to have had the one child. Making this child one among many, and an indefinite one at that, suggests an indefinite mother and denies the infant its distinction in relation to prophecy. This suggests that the herdsman’s thoughts are focused on the prophecy whose bearing on Oidipous he is endeavoring to obscure. His effort suggests that even one who is convinced of prophecy’s realization, and convinced therefore of the god’s powers to engage in mortal affairs, may nevertheless resist these facts’ implications. If he resists, it must be because he more greatly fears for his relationship with his mortal ruler than for his relationship with his god. Fear, anguish, or pity have the capacity to skew thinking and action.This kind of impiety seems even more worthy of blame than the mortal ruler’s openly contesting the god’s powers. [Md] [Mpew] [P] [Aj]