Lynceus, Pluto and the nymphs

Meaning

Lincee supplies the fabulous model of penetrating sight: “it is said” that his vision could pass through great rocks. Philon extends the comparison to the intellect’s exploration of Pluto’s hidden riches and the nymphs’ watery retreats. The reported-story marker matters, because the poem draws on an extraordinary tale rather than demanding belief in literal rock-piercing eyesight. Pluto and the nymphs organize the hidden earthly and watery regions of inquiry. Neither is automatically a cipher for an ingredient, and this Pluto’s poetic function is not identical with the earth-as-richest-ruler argument elsewhere.