from all that, the Greeks named it with a word which, in distinction to ψεῦδος and ἀπάτη and σφάλλειν, immediately seizes upon the relation to the original stem: concealment as λήθη.
But now since knowledge of the essence of ἀλήθεια is co-determined by a knowledge of the essence of λήθη, and since we who live so much later are wont to interpret λήθη, understood as "forgetting," in the sense of the "lived experience" and comportment of a "subject," therefore it is necessary to recognize clearly in advance the essential connections prevalent in the relation between λήθη and ἀλήθεια.
Granted, the Greek thinkers did not speak of these essential relations as we now are forced to express them. Precisely because the Greek essence of man is fulfilled in the "to have the word," Greek man could also "have" and retain the word in that pre-eminent way we call silence. The Greeks are often silent. especially about what is essential to them. And when they do express the essential, it is in a way that even then does not break the silence. Here we are referring to the ground of the pre-eminence of the tragic word in their tragedies. This is the tragic word's essential ambiguity, not created by the poets for its dramatic "effect" but spoken to them out of the essence of Being.
Why should not the Greeks, who "have" the word in such a way, keep silent and comport themselves in a concealing way precisely where they experience the original concealment itself, λήθη? But how could they keep silent about it without sometimes speaking of it? Hesiod mentions λήθη together with λιμός, i.e., together with the absence of nourishment. Both originate in the concealing night as the provenance of their essence. Pindar names the veiling essence of λήθη in another respect and directs our regard to its hidden essence.
c) Πρᾶγμα: action. The word as the realm of the essence of the human hand. Handwriting and typewriting. Ὀρθός and rectum. Essential action and the way toward the unconcealed. Oblivion as concealment. Man's being "away" from unconcealedness, and the word of the signless cloud. Darkening. The withdrawal of λήθη. Reference to Pindar and Hesiod.
Pindar speaks of λαθάς ἀτέκμαρτα νέφος, i.e., the signless cloud of concealment. Thereby he indicates unequivocally the veiling essence of what we call "oblivion." The cloud, passing or standing in front of the sun, conceals the brightness of the sky, hides the light, and withdraws clarity. It brings darkening and gloom over things as well as over man, i.e., over the relation of both to one another, over that in which this relation dwells. As a consequence of the darkening, the things themselves. the aspect they present, and the regard of men viewing