I 
124 M.de Polier on the Pleafures of the Mind 
An hiftorical and critical Defcription of Italy. 
By Abbe Richard. Six vols. i2 m0 . 
The group of Laocoon was found in the Thermes, 
or Baths of Titus, about the year 1506, under 
the pontificate of Julius II. who immediately 
bought it from the pofiTeffor of the field, where 
it had been dug out. The figures are higher 
than nature, and of fo beautiful white marble, 
that the fight of it alone charms the eye. The 
woikmanfliip is exquifite, of fuch a noble ftyle, 
and fuch a corredlnefs of execution, as befpeak 
it a work of the beft Grecian age. It is not the 
Laocoon defcribed by Virgil , as rending the fky 
with his (hrieks, ftruggling hard for his life, 
and roaring, like a bull flying from the altar 
where he has been wounded. 
<e Clamores fimul horridos ad fidera tollit, 
Quales mugitus, fugit cum faucius aras 
Taurus.” 
Virg. iEneid. II. 
“ His roaring fills the flitting air around. 
Thus, when an ox receives a glancing wound. 
He breaks his bands, the fatal altar flies. 
And, with loud bellowings, breaks the yielding Ikies.” 
Dr yden. 
Tt is not that man, execrated by a whole people, 
for having difcharged a fpear againft the horfe 
con lee rated to Minerva, and whom the vengeance 
of the Gods purfues. 
- - “ Scelus 
