Addressing as “children” the suppliants still fanned out around, the altar the priest echoes the address used by Oidipous in his previous speech and at the play’s opening. Perhaps it was accepted practice for a priest to speak this way to the people he serves, but having heard the term from Oidipous, it now has the ring of impropriety, as if the priest were in league with the ruler. This suggests skepticism towards religion as a civic institution. [Md] [P]