In calling down a curse upon himself if he should be guilty as charged, Kreon seeks to put an end to the dispute. When he was defending himself to Oidipous (at 606-7), he said that he would vote for his own guilty verdict, from which the audience will have inferred that both men hold the judicial process in high regard. [Md] [Mg] His present move is predicated upon a presumption that Iokaste will believe his profession of piety to be sincere; she must know that he is no cynic. Given the activity of the god within the arena of present action, the audience will find Kreon’s invocation of divinely administered justice persuasive and highly appropriate. Now the question is whether Oidipous will give equal regard to the invocation of a god. [P]