When it concludes its appeal to Oidipous by linking present factionalism with “long-ago evils,” the Chorus seems to be referring to the plague, although its outbreak can hardly be regarded as long ago. The word will therefore project the audience’s thinking further into the past: to Oidipous’s marriage, to Laios’ death, to the baneful prophecies given Oidipous and, before him, Laios, and to generational ills going all the way back to the time of the city’s founding by Kadmos. Thus, faction, disdain for prophecy, plague, incest, and murder are grouped together and become facets of a single complex phenomenon whose character is built from a composite of all features. Of these, those best understood are the ones presently on display on stage, especially faction and its cause: equivocation about prophecy. This issue can be projected back to the city’s founding; equivocation about prophecy has always undermined the city’s health, stability, and peace. The consequences of its own lack of clarity in regard to a relationship of central importance to its wellbeing. [Md] [Mip] [Mpea] [Mw]