Oidipous finds obedience “not sweet”; this from a man who has been willing to abjure for the entirety of his adult lifetime the comforts of home and family rather than submit to the god. For him self-denial is less bitter than submission to another—man or god. [Md] As a result of this preference and his steadfast commitment to realizing his own intention to avoid harming his family, the god has compelled him to harm them anyway, but blindly and with the consequence that he engendered yet more family members whose lives he thereby also ruined. If obedience is advisable now, it was more so when first he consulted Delphi. Had he obeyed then, the distasteful actions he was required to perform might have been done knowingly and efficaciously, for their performance would have ended the pollution rather than further spreading it to the next generation. In making this error he has been very like his parents, for had they bowed to the god’s prohibition on their indulgence in sexual intercourse, pollution would have been halted then and there. The cost would have been great, but the benefits greater. Every generation is free to determine whether to accept the bitterness of humility or to reject divine counsel and suffer the consequences, which include passing the same dilemma to the next generation, but with consequences intensified. Thus, if Athens chooses presently not to bow to whatever necessity the god may reveal to it, it can expect the next generation of Athenians to be subjected to an even more painful submission. [Dnc] [Mip] [Mw]