When the choral leader expresses the judgment that Kreon’s proverbs were well spoken, the audience may hear this comment as an unintended affirmation of the meanings it has gathered in excess of Kreon’s intentions. [Gd] The choral leader’s formulation is puzzling, for where he must mean to affirm the wisdom of the proberbs that Kreon has just quoted, εὐλαβουμένῳ πεσεῖν seems literally to mean that Kreon’s words were well chosen “for anyone taking care to fall.” This cannot be what the choral leader intends, for nobody takes care to fall. He evidently means to emphasize the idea that the proverbs will be of use to anyone sufficiently circumspect to take them up with care. This nuance may give expression to a fear that Oidipous may not be listening sufficiently well. To complete this meaning, however, the choral leader would have to say, “To one taking care not to fall” in consequence of a danger such as that implied by the word ἀσφαλῶς: “without tripping.” This interpretation of the chorus’s comment requires the audience to supply the negation as a component implied εὐλαβουμένῳ: “taking care to avoid pitfalls.” However, even the most cooperative listener would find this a stretch, and would consequently try other meanings, such as the literal: “to one making every effort to fall.” And behold–this does apply to Oidipous, for the myth (revealed later in this play, but presumably already known from Aeschylus or other sources) tells of his taking strong measures to avoid committing parricide and incest (i.e. immediate flight from Delphi in a direction diametrically opposite to that of his childhood home in Corinth), but in fact this precaution led directly to the crimes against his parents that mark his fall. Reading the Chorus’s response from the vantage of this double entendre, the audience would understand the Chorus to warn that, for one over-eager to avoid a prophesied fall, the error will at some future date be brought to light. But how might this new proverb find application in the real world? Athens can easily think of a fall prophesied for itself: defeat at the hands of Sparta promised by the oracle at Delphi. In what sense, then, is Athens over-eager to avoid it? The actual response is to eschew the opportunity to send an embassy to Delphi. The more moderate position apparently instructed through double entendre in the words of the chorus: Consult! More specifically, since Sparta has already consulted and been given a clear reply on the matter: Consult again on your own behalf! Indeed, the audience’s careful consideration of the Chorus’s ambiguous language can serve as a model for the kind of careful reading that must be given to any divine communication. [Gd] [Mipd] [Gt-a]