The Chorus begins a conditional sentence with the indefinite subject “anyone.” To whom, then, will this sentence apply? Presuming that this comment responds, like those of the preceding strophe and antistrophe, to the dramatic turn of events in which Oidipous seems to be caught up, the audience may well first test the sentence against him. Is he proceeding “contemptuously … with hands or tongue”? With his hands he slew the party at the crossroads, thereby showing contempt for them and for any rules of civility among travelers. Furthermore, in killing a man immediately after being advised by the Oracle that he would kill his father, when he does not even consider that this might be the event to which the god has referred, is he not thereby expressing contempt for the prophecy and the god who issued it? Oidipous has moreover treated both Teiresias and Kreon contemptuously, Teiresias for expressing prophetic insights unacceptable to Oidipous and Kreon for suggesting to Oidipous that he consult Teiresias. Finally, his tongue has just been heard to express contempt for prophecy. Thus, not only does the audience find that the indefinite pronoun could well apply to Oidipous, but the examples it can adduce highlight a definition of “contempt” as the forceful rejection of prophecy whose content is intolerable to its recipient, hostility towards any Oracle or prophet who delivers such a prophecy, and disregard for the god in whose name that prophecy is delivered. [Md] Range of the indefinite pronoun is not exhausted with the discovery that it may refer to Oidipous. Who else meets the description? Given Athens’ umbrage towards Delphi, the specifications might as well apply to it: rejection of a prophecy whose content is intolerable to it, hostility towards Delphi for delivering that prophecy, and disregard for Apollo as the source of that prophecy. [Gt-a] [Md] [P]