Considering that his daughters’ minds are still not fully formed, Oidipous finds it prudent to withhold his wisdom, which leaves it to the audience to wonder what counsel he might have offered. It seems very doubtful that he has fully comprehended the lesson to be learned from his own story. He is apparently not himself possessed of a mind capable of receiving wise counsel. He has shown himself to be incapable of recognizing and appreciating the god’s role in his life. The distinction is not one of age, then, but receptivity or attitude. It is this that defines his catastrophic end. That Thebes seems similarly resistant to insight suggests that it, and indeed any other city similarly disposed, will meet with a catastrophic end. The Athenian audience, on the other hand, might now, thanks to insights it has gained from its interactions with this play, be in a position to advise these girls (and similarly to argue in its own Assembly) to avoid the arrogance of believing oneself capable of circumventing a god’s prophecy. If Oidipous’s daughters (or Athens) are to free themselves from their inherited burdens, they must place themselves in the god’s keeping by requesting instruction of his Oracle, for only in this way can they hope to discover how to live “fittingly” (καιρὸς) and so “make a better life” than their father. [Md] [Gt-a] [Mipd] [Mw]