The herdsman thought that Oidipous would be taken to the country whence the shepherd came, but the wording can also be applied to Oidipous: he was indeed eventually taken back to the country whence he came, not of course by the shepherd, but by the god, who seems to have initiated his return by producing the drunken comment about Oidipous’s parentage. The god then relied upon Oidipous to consult Delphi and to make his way thence to Thebes. If one calculates the probabilities of such things coming to pass, any pretense at credibility is shattered. But the audience can judge for itself that where the god’s planning and execution are engaged, probability can (and must) be ignored. The god’s knowledge and power dwarf mortals’ scope for prediction. [Mpea] [Mpei] [Ap]