The Corinthian warrants with his life the fact that Oidipous’s father is dead, yet these words are only half true; not only has Oidipous’s narrative made the audience aware that Polybos is only Oidipous’s adoptive father, it has underscored the distinction, expressed by the Pytho, between “birth father” and “adoptive father,” so that the news not only touches upon the prophecy’s realization, it hearkens back to its wording. Thus, when the Corinthian offers his life in forfeit for any deception in his statement, the audience recognizes that while the truth is not what he understands it to be, his statement is nonetheless true, for both natural and adoptive fathers are now dead. The key to avoidance of a misunderstanding like this one is provided by the Oracle, whose words contain the precision that has allowed the audience to arrive at the correct understanding—one at which Oidipous and Iokaste could also have arrived. That neither does so even after being informed of the god’s language can be attributed to their strong emotional reaction to other aspects of Apollo’s project (such as the necessity that Oidipous kill his father), their insistence on having things go their own way, and their confidence in their capacity to reject a prophecy not to their linking and to render it invalid, all of which have made matters even worse for them. [Md] [Mip] [Mw]