The ominous word play does not end there, for the Corinthian adds; “best of all, tell where he is, if you thoroughly know” (εἰ κάτισθ᾽ ὅποθ). Knowledge of a person’s location is does not vary in depth or thoroughness—one knows, one supposes one knows, or one does not know, but if Oidipous is “Know-Where,” then knowing where equates to knowing himself, and this knowledge can be thorough or superficial. The question is directed to the body of Theban citizens standing before the palace. The pun thus also directs the audience’s attention to the ignorance of the collective body of Theban citizens standing before the palace. They do not know their leader. Knox calls “[t]hese violent puns … the ironic laughter of the gods whom Oidipous ‘excludes’ in his search for the truth.” Coming from Apollo, the pun’s emphasis on the ignorance of both Oidipous and the Theban citizenry rebukes the idea of gaining meaningful knowledge without resort to prophecy. To ignore or reject prophecy is to embrace the most foolish and dangerous form of ignorance and to summon the gods’ ironic laughter. The audience is in any case not laughing; it must be saddened, rather, and one wonders if the gods, looking upon this scene and making such violent puns, would not themselves do so in sadness, because they have provided mortals with a perfectly good way to supplement their knowledge, and yet mortals remain none the wiser. [Gd] [Mpei] [Mi] [Ad] [Md]