Oidipous’s characterization of himself as “the great destroyer” (τὸν μὲγ᾽ ὀλέθριον) seems apt, for he is the source of Thebes’ plague. Yet the pollution was moral rather than medical; therefore, individual quarantine will not return the town to health. It must be cleansed of its contamination, of those attitudes that made it liable to the god’s heavy-handed correction. [Aj] It was not the person of Oidipous that infected the town; his return might have signaled a turn away from his parents’ impiety. Instead, it further propagated it in a town that was so receptive to the idea of a mortal savior that it ignored its obligation to find and deal with Laios’ killer. [Mg] [Mpea] [P]