Oidipous persists in his assumptions by articulating to Kreon the wish he has already expressed to the Chorus that he be removed as quickly as possible from Thebes and cut off from all verbal contact with her citizens, to whom he refers as “mortal men” (θνητῶν). This emphasis on mortals implicitly raises the question of verbal contact with immortals, and the limitation “none” (μηδενὸς) suggests that the audience think of a particular god, and this would of course be Apollo. Oidipous’s words thus point up the fact that he is giving no thought to the necessity for verbal contact with Apollo, the one being with whom for him speech is and long has been clearly indicated. [Mip] Rather than insisting upon removal from discourse with any man, he should rather be seeking discourse with that one being whose position he has never regarded in the proper light, as a result of which he has responded improperly to his speech. [Mpea] When the god instructed him to kill his father, he fled because he judged this action to be intolerable to himself, but when the god instructed him to find and banish or kill Laios’ killer, he complied, because he found this to be in accord with his own sense of justice. [Md] [Mj] Oidipous is willing to seek and accept the god’s help, but only on the proviso that it accord with his own judgment. The audience may observe, then, that as reasoning and reasoned discourse among men serves to arrive at decisions for the common good, such discourse must be informed by discourse with the gods, for they and they alone are capable of furnishing mortals with perspectives that supplement and correct and thus have a salutary effect upon mortal judgment and action. [Ap] [Mw]