The Chorus is happy to point out Oidipous’s house. In addition, it takes it upon itself to introduce Iokaste, saying what at first sounds like, “This woman here is to him both wife and mother.” This is followed by the clarification, that she is mother “to his children.” As the audience knows, however, these two ideas are in her case not mutually exclusive; she is mother both to him and to his children. To the audience the Chorus will sound as though it has tripped over the horrifying truth only to quickly recover its balance. Again, this breath-taking alternation between wisdom and ignorance seems to expose a god at play. Having just had his way with the Corinthian, Apollo is now having his way with the Chorus, as if he were a puppeteer able to perform all the characters by inhabiting their bodies and shaping their speech to reveal first that both myth and prophecy have been fulfilled and second that a god is present and active, though unnoticed by anyone on the scene. [Gd] [Ad] [Apcmu] [Apa] [Mpei]