Oidipous likens the pain caused by the thought of his terrible deeds—presumably murder of father and incest with mother—to the sting of goads (κέντρων τε τῶνδ᾽) breaking his skin. The simile recalls the double-pointed cattle prod (διπλοῖς κέντροισι, l. 809) wielded by his father that triggered the killing spree at the crossroads. Thus, the goad that instigated the prophesied killing that Oidipous ardently wished to avert now stings him to the realization that he killed his father anyway. Both goads will appear to the audience to be instruments in the hands of Apollo. One can similarly see Apollo at work behind the drunken comment that goaded Oidipous to endeavor to discover the truth about his parents and behind the Sphinx’s motivating Laios to embark, goad in hand, on a journey to Delphi to seek the god’s guidance. It cannot be determined whether Apollo knew both men well enough to know that their meeting was bound to prove fatal to Laios or whether he intervened on the spot to make sure it did. Perhaps this is the implication of the goad’s double-pointedness. Either way, Apollo achieves his ends and prepares for an impressive demonstration of his capacity to do this years later. Now that that time has come, he has managed again to employ the double the goad, albeit only figuratively. As the recipient of Apollo’s demonstration can only be the Athenian audience, it is as though Apollo were advertising his ability to cause his subject to articulate an insight that he himself fails or declines to accept. If the Athenian electorate will not be treated as an animal that can be guided only through the judicious application of pain to its flanks, it should heed the god’s implicit admonition to accept the guidance that it can find at the Oracle. [Gd] [Apcmu] [Mip]