Oedipus—the King of Thebes, who rose to power by solving the riddle of the Sphinx—asks a crowd of his wailing, lamenting citizens what’s wrong. A good king, he wants to ease their pain if he can. An old priest steps forward to speak for everyone: Plague, famine, and every other kind of ill fortune have beset Thebes. The citizens’ appeals to the gods do no good, so now they turn to their king, whom they consider “first of men, both in the common crises of our lives/and face-to-face encounters with the gods” (161).

Oedipus assures his people that these very sufferings have been weighing on his mind. He’s already sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to Apollo’s oracle at Delphi to ask what will alleviate Thebes’s misery. Oedipus will do whatever the oracle instructs him.

Just then, Creon himself returns wearing the laurel wreath of victory—seemingly a sign of good news. However, he doesn’t want to tell Oedipus the oracle’s message in front of everyone. When Oedipus insists, Creon reports the oracle’s words: “Drive the corruption from the land, / don’t harbor it any longer, past all cure, / don’t nurse it in your soul—root it out!” (164).