Expressing the wish for Kreon that “a divine being (δαίμων) keeping watch (φρουρήσας) might chance upon (τύχοι) you on this path,” Oidipous’s words conjure a number of associations. By “path” he must mean the compassionate decision that Kreon makes by summoning his daughters so that their presence might soothe him. The metaphor will remind the audience, however, of paths that Oidipous himself has traveled, both in his mind (ll. 67-8) and afoot, all of which led either to Delphi for consultation or away from Delphi and Corinth in an effort to defeat the prophecy he had received. It appears that a divine spirit (i.e. Apollo) was in all these instances watching over and directing his actions, but not by chance; neither luck nor fate (τύχη) had anything to do with it, for Apollo had a complex and evolving plan that he was actively and assiduously carrying forward in keeping with a necessity to which he was himself subject, due initially to the prophecy that Laios’ disobedience would be punished by his son and later to Oidipous’s failure properly to understand the god’s instructions to execute that punishment. Oidipous’s wish reveals, then, that despite all of Apollo’s efforts to correct his understanding, he still has a false picture of the relationship between gods and mortals and the way in which it works. His belief that one “happens” or “chances” upon a well or ill-disposed deity is to make the encounter with gods to out to be nothing but a game of dice and the gods themselves to be governed by their own predilections and whims. If that were the case, it would be reasonable to think that mortals would do better to act on their own and hope for the best. For the audience, however, Oidipous’s emphasis on randomness in the lives and actions of the gods can only point up the illogic of his premises, for in his life chance has played no role; Apollo was always on the lookout for opportunities to effect his plans. What Oidipous views as chance, Apollo views as an opportunity for intervention. To judge from the events in the lives of Oidipous, Laios, and Iokaste, one meets with a deity only when one’s actions require it. Indeed, human action compels the gods to be on the constant watch for opportunities to take corrective action. The view that meetings on the road of life occur by chance recalls the way in which Laios is thought to have been fallen upon by random assailants, but they prove to have been the unique individual prophetically foretold to be his killer. The meeting at the crossroads seemed to be structured purely by chance only because Laios and Oidipous were both confident that they could avert the prophesied fatal meeting through decisive action of their own device. The audience will appreciate, however, that the “fate” with which they met is of their own making, for Apollo treated them in accord with the way that they responded to him. The appearance of both fate and chance are but illusions, and so it must be for every man and woman on the path of life. Any wish for matters to be otherwise is not only ignorant but impious, because it denigrates the gods’ powers and their interest in mortal wellbeing and ignores the fact that the relationship between gods and mortals imposes upon both parties a necessity from which neither can escape. It denies the gods their wisdom and perspicacity in choosing how best to meet that necessity, and it falsely ascribes to the gods the propensity to cause mortals undeserved harm. [Mei] [Ad] [Dc]