ἐνθύμιον has a special connotation in addition to “mood”; Knox explains that it is “pregnant with sinister meaning . . . characteristic of the fifth-century murder trial” where it refers to “the mental disturbance which the revengeful spirit of the murdered man is supposed to produce in his murderer.” Here it is clear, however, that Oidipous has never regarded himself as a murderer, has never been haunted by the dead man’s spirit, and has not been brought to trial–at least not by the victim’s family. Indeed, in Athens the son would be the proper person to prosecute his father’s murder; Oidipous would have to prosecute himself. If he is to pay for a crime, it will be due only to the intervention of a god, who has contrived a disturbance that is just now beginning to make itself felt in his mind. The juxtaposition of the special and common meanings of ἐνθύμιον suggests that a secular context such as the court cannot function effectively without the exertion of divine influence. Where Oidipous declared himself an ally of justice and the god, it would appear that the god, too, works as an indispensible ally of justice. [Gd] [Mg] [Apa] [Dnc]