Why request of Ares that he willingly turn his back, when plague is Apollo-sent and Apollo has already responded to a formal request for instructions? Even if Ares were the cause of Thebes’ woes, what sense would it make simply to bid him to withdraw? If he is raging as the Chorus presumes, should it not be necessary first to placate him by addressing the wrongs done him? Must not some redress be made? Surely the god is not utterly irrational? And if he were, would it not be irrational to simply to request his departure without first enquiring, what he requires? And must not that inquiry also pass through Delphi? [Ap] [Mip]