The audience knows that Oidipous is not to escape the pain of conviction. The pain in store for him is in fact far more severe than what he fears. The endeavor he might more reasonably make, rather than continuing to do his utmost to evade suffering altogether, is to accept it and try to mitigate it. This can be done by beginning to cooperate more fully, which means giving serious consideration to prophecy past, present, and future. Past prophecy bears on killing father and marrying mother. Present prophecy bears on finding Laios’ killer. Future prophecy means the opportunity to seek the god’s further instruction, how best to manage the discovery that Oidipous is Laios’ killer, that Laios was his father, and that Iokaste is his mother. [Md] [Mip]