Logos (Heraclitus, Fragment B 50)
The only way to decide is to consider what Heraclitus himself says in the fragment cited. The saying begins: οὐκ ἐμοῦ ... It begins with a strict, prohibiting "Not ..." It refers to the saying and talking of Heraclitus himself. It concerns the hearing of mortals. "Not to me," i.e. not to this one who is talking; you are not to heed the vocalization of his talk. You never hear properly so long as your ears hang upon the sound and flow of a human voice in order to snatch up for yourselves a manner of speaking. Heraclitus begins the saying with a rejection of hearing as nothing but the passion of the ears. But this rejection is founded on a reference to proper hearing.
Οὐκ ἐμοῦ ἀλλὰ ... Not to me should you listen (as though gaping), but rather ... mortal hearing must attend to something else. To what? Ἀλλὰ τοῦ Λόγου. The way of proper hearing is determined by the Λόγος. But inasmuch as the Λόγος is named {GA 7: 222} without qualification it cannot be just any customary thing. Therefore, the hearing appropriate to it cannot proceed casually toward it, only to pass it by once again. If there is to be proper hearing, mortals must have already heard the Λόγος with an attention [Gehör] which implies nothing less than their belonging to the Λόγος.
Οὐκ ἐμοῦ ἀλλὰ τοῦ Λόγου ἀκούσαντας. "When you have listened, not merely to me (the speaker), but rather when you maintain yourselves in hearkening attunement [Gehören], then there is proper hearing."
What happens, then, when such hearing occurs? When there is such proper hearing there is ὁμολογεῖν, which can only be what it is as a λέγειν. Proper hearing belongs to the Λόγος. Therefore this hearing is itself a λέγειν. As such, the proper hearing of mortals is in a certain way the Same as the Λόγος. At the same time, however, precisely as ὁμολογεῖν, it is not the Same at all. It is not the same as the Λόγος itself. Rather, ὁμολογεῖν remains a λέγειν which always and only lays or lets lie whatever is already, as ὁμόv, gathered together and lying before us; this lying never springs from the ὁμολογεῖν but rather rests in the Laying that gathers, i.e. in the Λόγος.
But what occurs when there is proper hearing, as ὁμολογεῖν? Heraclitus says: σοφὸν ἔστιν. When ὁμολογεῖν occurs, then σοφόν comes to pass. We read: σοφὸν ἔστιν. One translates σοφόν correctly as "wise."
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