The “bane” equated with the Sphinx is said to be “sprung like a fire beyond its bounds (ἐκτοπίαν).” Like the plague that fuels it, the fire is spreading uncontrollably. At the same time ἐκτοπίαν can be read as “foreign,” a characteristic of Oidipous, who came to Thebes believing himself to be foreign-born. This conflation of Oidipous with the plague confuses the fireman with the fire, the deliverer of salvation with the agent of destruction. Oidipous is in fact playing both roles; he is both the rescuing hero and the source of raging plague, both native son and foreigner. This doubling of signification negates as it contaminates, and it raises the question, how order is to be restored. If the relationships between cause and cure, destruction and salvation, native and foreign, mortal and immortal are so confused in Thebes, does this not suggest that any city, including Athens may be implicated in the same contaminations, contradictions, and negations? If so, the “cure” for Athens’ troubles would have the same character as their cause: fireman and fire both burning beyond proper bounds. [Mp]