Fragment 2: “Hence one must follow the Together in beings, that is, adhere to it; but whereas λόγος essentially unfolds as this Together in beings, the mass lives as if each had his own understanding (sense).”29
What can we glean from these two fragments? [98|136]
It is said of logos: 1) constancy, lasting, is proper to it; 2) it essentially unfolds as the Together in beings, the Together of the being, that which gathers; 3) everything that happens, that is, that comes into Being, stands there in accordance with this constant Together; this is what holds sway.
What is said of λόγος here corresponds exactly to the authentic meaning of the word “gathering.” But just as this word denotes both 1) to gather and 2) gatheredness, λόγος here means the gathering gatheredness, that which originally gathers. Λόγος here does not mean sense, or word, or doctrine, and certainly not “the sense of a doctrine,” but instead, the originally gathering gatheredness that constantly holds sway in itself.
True, the context in fragment 1 seems to invite an interpretation of λόγος in the sense of word and discourse, and even to demand it as the only possible interpretation; for it speaks of the “hearing” of human beings.
29. A more conventional translation would run: “Hence one must follow what is common; but while the λόγος is common, the many live as if each had his own understanding.”