EARLY GREEK THINKING

The respective difference of each dialogical interpretation of thought is a sign of an unspoken fullness to which even Heraclitus himself could only speak by following the path of the insights afforded him. Wishing to pursue the "objectively correct" teaching of Heraclitus means refusing to run the salutary risk of being confounded by the truth of a thinking.

The following remarks lead to no conclusions. They point toward the event [das Ereignis].

Heraclitus' saying is a question. The word with which the fragment ends—"end" understood as τέλος—names that from which the questioning begins. It is the domain in which thinking moves. The word into which the question ascends is λάθοι. What could be easier to establish than this: that λανθάνω, aorist ἔλαθον, means "I am hidden"? Nonetheless, we are scarcely capable of immediately rediscovering just how this word speaks in Creek.

Homer (Odyssey, VIII, 83 ff.) tells how Odysseus, in the Phaeacian king's palace, covered his head each time at the minstrel Demodocus' song, whether happy or sad, and thus hidden from those present, wept. Verse 93 runs: ἔνθ᾽ ἄλλους μὲν πάντας ἐλάνθανε δάκρυα λείβων. Consistent with the spirit of our own language, we translate: "Then he shed tears, without all the others noticing it." The German translation by Voss comes closer to what the Greek says, since it carries the important verb ἐλάνθανε over into the German formulation: "He concealed his flowing tears from all the other guests." Ἐλάνθανε, however, does not mean the transitive "he concealed," but "he remained concealed"—as the one who was shedding tears. "Remaining concealed" is the key word in the Greek. German, on the other hand, says: he wept, without the others noticing it. Correspondingly, we translate the well-known Epicurean admonition λάθε βιώσας as "Live in hiding." Thought from a Greek perspective, this saying means: "As the one who leads his life, remain concealed (therein)." Concealment here defines the way in which a man should be present among others. By the manner of its saying, the Greek announces that concealing— and therefore at the same time remaining unconcealed—exercises a commanding preeminence over every other way in which what is present comes to presence. The fundamental trait of presencing itself is determined by remaining concealed and unconcealed.

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