In the three previous uses of it in this play (ll. 86, 151, and 310) φάτις refers to a message from a god to a mortal and Iokaste has just related the prophecy (χρησμός) given Laios, but here she means a report delivered by a direct or an indirect witness. The witness’s report contradicts, however, the facts known to the audience both from myth and from the prophecy that Iokaste has just related: Laios’ son Oidipous was neither a “stranger” nor a bandit. Comparing divine prophecy to mortal report, the audience will find that Iokaste’s demonstration sets forth not prophecy’s nullity, as she intends, but its superiority to mortal discourse, for the prophecies have been unerring while the mortal report is mistaken or misleading. [Mpew] [Mi]