Oidipous’s insistence on hearing directly from the stranger, not via some intermediary, is reminiscent of what he first said to the suppliants at the altar before his door (ll. 6-7) when he deemed himself to be an adequate, or even superior, substitution for the god. Since that moment the audience has had ample opportunity to observe the god’s use of Oidipous as an unwitting medium, which suggests that his preference for direct mortal communication over mediated divine communication is misconceived. The noun σημάντωρ (some manuscripts have the participle σημήνας) characterizes the Corinthian messenger as a giver of signals; Oidipous’s own word makes of him a messenger, a medium for the delivery of messages or–returning to the meaning to which Iokaste has drawn attention–proofs. The audience has already anticipated that, regardless of his intentions, this man’s coming will serve Apollo’s project. The message he carries will serve as a medium for the god, presumably to further Oidipous’s discovery that the prophecies he fled have been realized, and thus in two ways confirm the viability of the god’s prophetic medium. Oidipous might be understood to enjoin Apollo to speak directly to him via this medium. [Apcmu] [Apa] [Mi]