The claim “I proceed” displays ignorance of the fact that it is the god who is proceeding. It is arrogant to think that all action stems from his own will. Since prophecies were the occasions for the sets of actions (past and present) in which Oidipous has engaged, it is perverse to shut the god out of consideration. It is no wonder that Apollo’s arrangements should bear a twisted aspect. To obtain Oidipous’s cooperation Apollo had to foist on all of Thebes the plague that resulted in Kreon’s trip to Delphi, and if through the Pythia Apollo instructed Kreon that Laios’s killer must be found, then Oidipous is in fact presently acting very much in accord with the god, but he is only an ally to the god insofar as he understands the god’s effort to rid Thebes of its plague. In this regard he views the god as an ally to Thebes and, thus, to himself. Even when he claims to be cooperating with the god, the god and the audience can both see this to be a distortion of actual relations of will and action. Oidipous’s error is not an innocent one; it results from an impermissible arrogance. [Apamu] [Md] [P]