“No longer” suggests that the chorus is answering its question with a decision to stop dancing, and yet it continues to sing and to dance, which seems to signal that it considers that the god may yet punish those who must be punished. The audience, finding itself directly addressed by its own dancers and thus challenged to join in the decision, whether or not to proceed with the religious rite of tragic performance, can affirm that the chorus is missing the point of the play it is performing, for Thebes is being punished, as was Laios, and as Oidipous will be. The chorus is also missing the obvious parallel between Thebes and Athens; plague in both implies punishment of both. The god is executing justice in Athens, which means that Athens has been guilty of impiety. Indeed, the two cities’ impious acts and expressions are very similar; both have looked to their leaders rather than their gods. Like Thebes’ rulers, Athens’ leadership has judged it best to prove that “nothing mortal has any share in the prophetic arts” by working to invalidate prophecy. This impious policy should now, however, seem to be the height of folly. [Gt-a] [P] [Mpea]