Teiresias might now reveal to Oidipous that Laios was his father and Iokaste his mother, but the seer sidesteps a direct answer and with it the opportunity of bringing the impending revelation nearer. Instead, he promises what the audience has been anticipating from the play’s first speech: that this day will be the author of Oidipous’s destruction. Interestingly, however, while evading a direct answer to the question, the seer’s words emphasize that this day will “beget” Oidipous. Given the fact that Oidipous was literally begotten many decades ago and given the problems that the audience know to have originated with that begetting, the seer’s words seem to hint at a greater insight. [Gd] In what sense, then, is the audience to understand that Oidipous will only today be created? The suggestion seems to be that his creation does not begin with his biological conception, but with the revelation of the truth about it, and since this seems to rest in the god’s hands, the audience may infer that the seer is presently revealing a more general truth about human beings: their existence is not determined simply by the conception and birth in which their biological parents participate, but rather through a more significant and complex process by which the god also plays a significant role. [Dp] A mortal is not fully made until his identity is established, and depends upon cooperation with the god. Since Laios and Okaste refused their cooperation with the god, Oidipous is more Apollo’s child than theirs. [Apao] [Dnc]