The hoplite-clad coalition of natural forces and gods that “leap down” on their victim recalls the idea voiced by Oidipous earlier in the play concerning Laios’s death: “fate pounced upon his head” (l. 263), though in fact it was his own offspring, or “get,” who got him by coming down upon his head. This parallel makes of Oidipous at the moment he struck Laios down Zeus’s agent. This image calls to mind that of the Furies as Zeus’s agents in the choral songs of the Agamemnon. Now that it is Oidipous’s turn to be struck down, the audience may suppose that again Zeus is the agent, though acting through a hoplite army. Casting the Furies as hoplites for this image works in reverse to cast every hoplite army everywhere as an agent of Zeus. Hoplite armies, both those sent out by Athens and by her enemies, may prove to be instruments of Zeus–if they win. If they lose, they are the objects of Zeus’s corrective action. Until the outcome, it is impossible to know which serves Zeus and which the object of his scorn. The scene’s imagery, like that in Agamemnon, is chaotic; it presents a chilling view of the possible violence and confusion in the relationship among gods, mortals, and natural forces. [Ap] [Aj] [Dp]