Rather than thinking to free his daughters from the curse of their birth, Oidipous expresses the desire “most of all” to be allowed to “touch their hands and weep away the woes.” As an extension of the incestuous touching that both gave them life and cast the darkest of shadows over their lives, such touching may be unseemly. Adding to this disquiet is the consideration that Oidipous’s longing for the comfort they can provide is made inappropriate by the fact that it was his misdeeds—in particular his misunderstanding that the god was proferring guidance—that led to their blighted existence. His longing for inappropriate touch is reminiscent of Laios’s most human failure to refrain from sexual intercourse with his wife, that resulted in Oidipous’s conception and foisted upon him the peculiar challenges he would have to face. Oidipous thus manifests the very foibles that cursed him and would, transmitted by physical contact, threaten more gravely to burden his daughters’ already problematic lives. One must recognize that the most human of impulses can lead to terrible consequences. As prophecies given both Laios and Oidipous make clear, such consequences are both foreseeable and avoidable, but only by putting the matter into the god’s hands by submitting to his instruction through consultation with the Oracle at Delphi. The cycle of pollution will clearly not end with a loving caress, but rather with acknowledgement that the god’s aid, painful as it sometimes may be, is indispensible. [Mw] [Md] [Mip] [Dnc]