Oidipous would also have blocked up his ears, if he could, so as the more completely to cut himself off from human discourse. His life, as he imagines, would then be “sweet,” because his mind would be “outside of wrongs” (ἔξω τῶν κακῶν). But would it? Deafness might stop the flow of bad news, recrimination, blame, and shame expressed by others, but he cannot put an end to his own awareness of what he has done, the harm he has caused, the pain he has inflicted, the devastation he has wrought, and the contest he has lost. [Mp] [Ap] While the cessation of new sensory stimuli cannot prevent the mind from continuing to think. The mind can however be prevented from receiving the god’s health-bringing instruction, for when he was given the opportunity to hear the god’s own words at Delphi, he closed himself off. Had his mind then been open to interrogate Apollo about the wrongs he was told he must perform, he might have made good use of his ears. One gets inside of wrong, then, when one closes the senses to messages from the gods and thus closes oneself to actions that put one at odds with the gods and the necessities of which they have knowledge. [Mj] [Aj] [Mipd]