Oidipoous’s putting his fear in the past tense suggests that he now believes himself to be out of the woods, but the audience knows this not to be the case. [Mpea] Interestingly, he describes the effects of his fear as leading him astray (παρηγόμην). This statement is accurate, for fear struck at the moment Oidipous heard the terrible prophecies from the Pythia at Delphi, and he responded by taking the path that took him to the fateful encounter with his father and marriage to his mother. This path was clearly the wrong one; had he not been knocked off balance by fear, he would have gone another route. [Md] What would it have been, for a calm response to prophecy would have required the same encounters of him; the path would have to have been the same. The difference, then, would not have been defined by the physical path, but rather by something else, such as the spirit with which he traveled that path. Had he been acting in accordance with Apollo’s direction, he would have killed his father, but not in the train of a mad dash to put distance between himself and Corinth. But in what spirit of pious submission to Apollo could he possibly have married his mother? [N] [P]