Oidipous seems to mean to ask Kreon whether he has made the correct inference regarding his daughters’ approach, but his question can more broadly be understood to ask whether all his words are meaningful, and this will prompt the audience to wonder (if it has not already) whether he does in fact cherish his daughters above all else. It will find that he does not, but if he did, that would be improper, just as his mother’s cherishing him (as husband) has proven abominable, just as her “cherishing” Laios was improper, both when she ignored the god’s prohibition in order to sleep with him and then when she consigned her infant son to a painful death in order to spare Laios’ life, which meant affronting Apollo. At each step, sexual and familial relations were put ahead of concern for the god’s instructive word. As a result, marriage and children were polluted. If one truly loves one’s family, one shows it by hearing and heeding the god’s word, which one does by asking not, “Am I saying something?” but “Is Apollo saying something?” [Mpei] [Md] [Mipd]