This statement can similarly be interpreted in two ways, either or both of which may be intended by Oidipous, for δαῖμων may indicate address to a god or else refer to his own misfortune. If he is speaking to a god, it ought to be the god who appears to the Chorus to have come down upon Oidipous and into whose identity the Chorus has just inquired (ll. 1300-02) The audience will know this to be Apollo, increasingly understood to have been speaking through many mouths and acting through many hands for all the years of Oidipous’s life and continuously in evidence through the course of this play. If Oidipous is now indeed directing his words to a god, he may be exclaiming at how far the god has come. That he directs these words to the god, however, suggests that he imagines the god to be present when he supposed him to be far away. Having just blinded himself to everyday phenomena, perhaps he is now able to see the god, who has in fact been present all along, but who went unnoticed even when there were plenty of signs by which his presence could be inferred. If he is visible to Oidipous now, it seems to be due to Oidipous’s self-blinding, an expression of despair that finally dissolved the barrier to perception of the god’s vibrant presence. This may lead the audience to detect a third meaning in Oidipous’s statement; instead of commenting to the god, “Behold how suddenly you jumped out [ἐξήλου from ἐξάλλομαι]!” Oidipous might be observing to himself, “Behold how you were blinding yourself [ἐξηλαοῦ from ἐχαλάω]!” Having just literally blinded himself, this latter reading suggests that he has suddenly acquired sufficient perspicacity to realize that he previously suffered from a figurative self-blinding that prevented him from seeing the god’s influence and properly interpreting the god’s messages. Like Teiresias’s physical blindness, Oidipous’s self-inflicted physical blindness has enabled him suddenly to both see and communicate with the god who has all along been nearby, communicating by way of human voices, directing action, and giving shape to circumstances. The double entendre provides a comment on the situation that has made it necessary for the god to employ double entendre as a medium for communication: the assumption that an enormous gulf lies between gods and mortals has been blinding (and deafening) mortals to the visual and auditory signs of their presence and their wish to communicate and provide help. Oidipous’s words thus give the audience a new perspective onto the supernatural world; his are the words of a mortal who has just entered the spirit world and is describing his first impressions of it. In that world the breath of the gods passes through mortal frames like a wind whose whistling is divine speech. The very sound of Oidipous’s voice as the audience presently hears it is borne aloft by a breath of divine origin. Apollo’s breath gently touches the faces of the Athenians as they sit in the open air within the sacred precinct of the theater. [Gd] [Md] [Mw] [Dp] [Apcm] [Gt-a]