Did the family line meet with bad luck? Is it possible that chance has seen to it that the prophecies given Laios and Oidipous were fulfilled? If Oidipous considers chance, should he not consider the coincidence that he arrived in Thebes immediately after having himself killed a man and immediately following the death of Thebes’ ruler? The audience, at any rate, can clearly see that what appears to be happenstance cannot in fact be so, and since the audience knows prophecy to be involved, it must also at least consider the god’s possible involvement. What appears from a mortal perspective to be the workings of chance may from a broader perspective be the workings of a god. [Dc] [Apa]