Making a request on the grounds that it will benefit Kreon (“for your sake, not mine”), Oidipous misjudges his man. [Mpea] Contrary to his supposition (if it is genuine) that Kreon has been moved by compassion for him, the audience can judge from what Kreon has just said that his reason for approaching Oidipous is that he finds it improper for anyone, man or god, to be exposed to him, and he thus takes it as his responsibility to remove him from the sight of gods and men. [Md] [Mg] Kreon’s goal is to restore Thebes to seemly and appropriate relations with the natural world, to which he assigns a divine aspect. In this endeavor, Kreon demonstrates his belief that a ruler is a public servant whose first duty is to lead the state towards wellbeing by attending to its relationship to the world around it. [Dn]