Just as earlier in this speech he cursed himself to suffer the fate the audience knows already to be in store for him (246-8), Oidipous now curses those unwilling to cooperate with his investigation to suffer precisely what they already suffer: crop failure and human infertility. Oidipous’s curse is thus rendered redundant and meaningless by the god’s prior action. This suggests first that Thebes’ suffering is for earlier misdeeds and second, that mortals do not prompt divine action as much through the words of their curses, oaths, and prayers as they do through their commissions and omissions. The gods do not answer to men (and it is folly to suppose that they do); they respond to men with a justice that they determine and that they carry out, either through inhuman means such as plague or mortal agency, comprehending and willing or not. [Aj] [Apaon] [Apaos] [Apama] [Apamu]