When Oidipous predicts that his daughters must waste away “barren,” their anticipated childlessness seems only to figure a continuation of the blight on reproduction already affecting Thebes, from the crops in the plowed fields and the herds on Kithairon to the city’s women. And while the city might have expected its cure to follow from the detection and punishment of Laios’ killer, Oidipous’s current prediction suggests that the communal pestilence will pass on to the next generation. The town’s pollution is not a matter simply of harboring an impious individual; it stems from the impiety of its own attitudes and actions. Recovery, then, will require more than the apprehension and punishment of an impious ruler; it demands a change of attitude independent of the polluted ruler’s. Kreon’s insistence upon seeking further guidance of the Oracle promises to cleanse both ruling family and city. [Mw] [P] [Mpea] [Mipd]