The curse to which the Chorus refers can be taken two ways: the curse on Laios’ killer just voiced by Oidipous (lines 269-71) and the state in which Oidipous found the Chorus when he responded to the supplication at the start of the play. Indeed, the curse just expressed calls for consequences identical to those the city is already suffering. The two interpretations overlap, so that one might understand that the present conditions result from Oidipous. Insofar as the city is suffering from a divinely inflicted plague, it is cursed—not by Oidipous’s words, both by his prior deeds and by its own neglect to search for Laios’ killer. That Oidipous is the one who killed Laios implies that he, too, is cursed, but by whom? The curse he has just uttered comes too late, for he was already cursed, presumably by killing Laios, his father, and then by marrying Okaste, his mother. Yet, even now still knowing nothing of his involvement in those relationships, he cannot be held guilty of those transgressions, for if he is, the gods must be the origins of his curse, and their action would make them guilty of injustice. If the gods are unjust, then it is irrational to invoke them. If the gods are not unjust, then Oidipous must have said or done something offensive to them prior to killing Laios and coming to Thebes. [Gd] [Aj] [P]