A.“λα_θέμεν” Pi.O.1.64: impf. “ἐλάνθανον” Il.13.721, etc.; “ἔληθον” Od.19.151, S.El.1359; Ep. “λῆθον” Il.15.461; Ion. “λήθεσκεν” 24.13: fut. “λήσω” Od.11.102, Ar.Ec.98, etc.; Aeol.inf. “λα?σην” Alc.Supp.22.8; Dor. “λα_σῶ” Theoc.14.9, al., so (in late writers) λήσομαι, v. infr. c. 11: aor. 1 “ἔλησα” Nic.Al.280 (but Hom. has ἐπ-έλησα, Alc. ἐξ-έλα_σα, in causal sense): aor. 2 “ἔλα^θον” Il.17.676, etc. (for λέλα^θον, v. infr. B): pf. “λέληθα” Semon.7.9, Sol.13.27; Aeol.part.“λελα?θων” Alc.Supp.26.8: plpf. ἐλελήθειν, Att. -ήθη, Th.8.33, Ar.Eq.822, Nu.380, Luc.Pr.Im. 15; Ion.3sg. “ἐλελήθεε” Hdt.6.79.
C. Med. and Pass., “λανθάνομαι” Arist.Po.1455a25 (s.v.l.), “λήθομαι” Il.11.790, A.Ag.39; Dor. λάθομαι [α_] Pi.O.8.72: Ep. impf. “λανθανόμην” Od.12.227: fut. “λήσομαι” 1.308; Dor. “λα_σεῦμαι” Theoc.4.39, also “λελήσομαι” E.Alc.198: aor. 1 ἐλησάμην or λησάμην only in late Ep., Maiist.47, Mosch.3.62 (Dor. λα_ς-), Q.S.3.99, etc.; also ἐλήσθην, Dor. inf. “λασθῆμεν” Theoc.2.46, cf. διαλανθάνω: aor. 2 ἐλα^θόμην, Ep. λαθ-, Il.13.835, E.Hipp.289: rare in Prose exc. in compds., Plu.Caes.38; also Ep. redupl. λελάθοντο, etc., v. infr. c: pf. “λέλησμαι” S.El.342, Pl.Phdr.252a; Ep. λέλασμαι, part. λελασμένος, etc.; cf. ἐπιλήθω.
A. in most of the act. tenses, escape notice (freq. joined with a neg.):—Constr.:
1. c. acc. pers. only, escape his notice, “λάθε δ᾽ Ἕκτορα” Il.22.277; “οὐδέ σε λήσει” 23.326; “οὐ λῆθε Διὸς πυκινὸν νόον” 15.461, cf. Od.11.102, al.; [“τοῦτον] οὐκ ἔστι λαθεῖν ὄμματα φωτός” A.Ag. 796 (anap.); “οὐ λάθει μ᾽ ὀργά” S.El.222 (lyr.), cf. Ph.207 (lyr.); “τουτί μ᾽ ἐλελήθειν” Ar.Nu.380; εἰ λανθάνει σε perhaps you don't know, Men. Sam.78: impers., λεληθέναι οὐ θαυμάζω τὸ πλῆθος περὶ τούτου it escaped the notice of the people, X.Hier.2.5; σὲ δὲ λέληθεν περὶ τοῦτο ὡς . . Pl. Lg.903c.
2. most freq. with a part. added, in which case we usually translate the part. by a Verb, and express λανθάνω by an Adv., unawares, without being observed; either,
a. c. acc. pers., ἄλλον τινὰ λήθω μαρνάμενος I am unseen by others while fighting, i.e. 1 fight unseen by them, Il.13.273; “πάντας ἐλάνθανε δάκρυα λείβων” Od.8.93, cf. 12.17, 220, 19.88, al., Pi.O.1.64, 6.36, Hdt.8.25: freq. in Trag. and Att., μὴ λάθῃ με προσπεσών lest he come on unseen by me, S.Ph.46, cf. 156 (lyr.); ὅπως μὴ λήσουσιν αὐτοὺς αἱ νῆες . . ἀφορμηθεῖσαι should put to sea without their observing them, Th.8.10; or,
b. without an acc., φονέα ἐλάνθανε βόσκων he maintained the murderer unawares, Hdt.1.44; “λέληθας ἐχθρὸς ὤν” S.OT415; “δουλεύων λέληθας” Ar.V. 517; “συνέβη δὲ ὑπερημέρῳ γενομένῳ λαθεῖν” D.21.89: the reflex. Pron. may be supplied and is sts. added, “λέληθεν αὑτὸν τοῖς ξυνοῦσιν ὢν βαρύς” S.Fr.103; “ἕως σαυτὸν λάθοις διαρραγείς” Ar.Pax32, cf. Nu.242, X.An.6.3.22: sts., however, a different object must be supplied from the context, βάλλοντες ἐλάνθανον (not ἑαυτούς, but Τρῶας) Il. 13.721; “ἐλάνθανε [πάντας] ἔχων” Hdt.8.5; μὴ διαφθαρεὶς λάθῃ [τινὰ ὁ βίος] S.Ph.506; “μὴ λάθῃ [ἡμᾶς] φύγδα βάς” A.Eu.256 (lyr.), cf. Th. 4.133, etc.—In a few examples this constr. is reversed, and λαθών is put in the part., as in our idiom, ἀπὸ τείχεος ἆλτο λαθών (for ἔλαθεν ἁλόμενος) Il.12.390; “ἣ . . λήθουσά μ᾽ ἐξέπινες” S.Ant.532.
3. rarely c. acc. et inf., μή σε λαθέτω ὑπερτιθέμεν let it not escape thee to . . , i.e. forget not to . . , Pi.P.5.23; “ἔλαθεν αὐτὸν σύνθημα δοῦναι” Plu.Arist. 17; σφᾶς λέληθε Θεόδωρον εἶναι it has been unnoticed that it was . . , Paus.9.41.1.
4. folld. by a relat. clause, οὐδέ με λήθεις, ὅττι θεῶν τίς σ᾽ ἦγε thou escapest me not, it is not unknown to me, that some god led thee, Il.24.563; οὐδέ ἑ λήθει, ὅππως . . 23.323; ἐδόκεες θεοὺς λήσειν οἷα ἐμηχανῶ thou thought'st to escape the gods' notice in . . , Hdt.8.106; “οὔκουν με . . οἷα πράττεις λανθάνει” Ar.Eq.465; οὐ λανθάνεις με, ὅτι . . X.Mem.3.5.24, cf. Smp.3.6, 13; ὁ γείτων λ. τινὰ οὐ μόνον ὅτι πράττει, ἀλλ᾽ εἰ . . Pl.Tht.174b.
5. abs., escape notice or detection, S.Tr.455, Th.1.37, 69, al.; “λάθε βιώσας” Epicur.Fr.551; “λανθάνει τὸ οὖρον προσπῖπτον” Hp.Coac.464.
B. causal, make one forget a thing, c. gen. rei, in compds. ἐκληθάνω, ἐπι-λήθω; the simple Verb only in Ep. redupl. aor. 2, ὄφρα . . λελάθῃ ὀδυνάων that . . he may cause him to forget his pains, Il.15.60; “πόλιν λελάθοιτε συντυχιᾶν” Lyr.Adesp.140.9: but
II. in late Ep., λέλαθον, = ἔλαθον, escaped notice of, ἑὸν νόον, τοκῆας, A.R.2.226, 3.779, cf. Orph.A.876.
C. Med. and Pass., let a thing escape one, forget,
1. forget simply, in pres. (abs.), “σὺ δὲ λήθεαι” Il.11.790: c. gen., “Κίρκης μὲν ἐφημοσύνης . . λανθανόμην” Od.12.227, cf. Pi.O.8.72; “οὔ ποτε λήσομαι αὐτῶν” Od.1.308; “ἄλγος, οὗ ποτ᾽ οὐ λελήσεται” E.Alc.198: mostly in aor. 2, “ἀλκῆς λαθέσθαι” A.Supp.731; “νόστου τε λαθέσθαι” Od.9.97; πῶς ἂν . . Ὀδυσῆος . . λαθοίμην; 1.65: also in redupl. aor., “οὐδὲ σέθεν . . θεοὶ μάκαρες λελάθοντο” Il.4.127; “μή τίς μοι ἀπειλάων λελαθέσθω” 16.200; “οὐ δυνάμην λελαθέσθ᾽ Ἄτης” 19.136 (but in Hes.Th.471 like the Act., ὅπως λελάθοιτο τεκοῦσα that she might bear unknown): so in pf., “τῶν δὲ λέλασται” Il.5.834; “ἐμεῖο λελασμένος” 23.69; “κείνου λελῆσθαι” S. El.342, etc.; “ἑταίρων πάντων λέλησται” Pl.Phdr.252a: with a relat. clause, “λελασμένος ὅσσ᾽ ἐπεπόνθει” Od.13.92: fut. Med. in pass. sense, once in S., οὐδέ ποτε λησόμενον οἷον ἔφυ κακόν never will be forgotten, El.1249 (lyr.); cf. ἐπιλανθάνω.
2. forget purposely, pass over, ἢ λάθετ᾽ ἢ οὐκ ἐνόησεν either he chose to forget it . . , Il.9.537; “μαθοῦσιν αὐδῶ, κοὐ μαθοῦσι λήθομαι” A.Ag.39.
II. in later writers fut. Med. is used like Act., escape notice, “ἡμᾶς” Arist.APr.66a31, cf. A.R.3.737, Luc.Sacr.14: abs., Alciphr.3.52.