LAOCOON LAOMEDON. 



377 



A critical method and profound erudition render his 

 Saggio di Lingua Etrusca e di altre antiche d' Italia, 

 per servire alia Storia de' Popoli, delle Lirtgue e 

 delle Belle Arti (Home, 1789, 3 vols.), a classical 

 work. Lanzi next undertook a history of the art 

 of painting in Italy, at the suggestion of the grand- 

 duke of Tuscany (who died in 1824) ; and this 

 work is of equal merit with that just mentioned. 

 The charms of his style render this erudite produc- 

 tion highly attractive. Of this Storia pittorica dell' 

 Italia dal Risorgimento delle Belle Arti fin presso al 

 Fine del XP^IH. Secolo, the third edition (Bassano, 

 1809, G vols.) deserves the preference, as containing 

 his own last additions. The first edition appeared 

 in 1795, the fourth in 1822 (Florence; English, by 

 Thomas Roscoe, London, 1828). His Inquiries 

 respecting the Etruscan Vases, so called (Florence, 

 1806), is a work of great learning, the most valuable 

 treasures of which have been still more generally 

 diffused by Milliii. He also published Latin Inscrip 

 tions, which are much esteemed, a translation of 

 Hesiod's Works and Days, and some theological 

 productions, the fruit of his last years. Since his 

 death, which took place March 30, 1811, some of 

 them have been collected by the cavalier Onofrio 

 Boni, in the Opere Postume (Florence, 1817, 2 vols., 

 4to). Inghirami published, in 1824, a new edition, 

 with corrections and additions, of Lanzi's Notizie della 

 Scultura degli Antichi, with engravings. As a man, 

 Lanzi was amiable, and readily assisted others in 

 their researches and learned labours. He was buried 

 in the church of Santa Croce, at Florence, where the 

 remains of so many great men repose. Onofrio Boni 

 of Crotona has written an Elogio dell' Ab. D. Luigi 

 Lanzi, and the abbate J. B. Zannoni, sub-librarian at 

 Florence, a biography of this distinguished man. 



LAOCOON, a priest of Neptune (according to 

 some, of Apollo), at Troy, after the pretended retreat 

 of the Greeks, was sacrificing a bull to Neptune, on 

 the shore, when two enormous serpents appeared 

 swimming from the island of Tenedos, and advanced 

 towards the altar. The people fled ; but Laocoon 

 and his sons fell victims to the monsters. The sons 

 were first attacked, and then the father, who at- 

 tempted to defend them. Wreathing themselves 

 round him, the serpents raised their heads high above 

 him, while, in his agony, he endeavoured to extricate 

 himself from their folds. They then hastened to the 

 temple of Pallas, where, placing themselves at the 

 foot of the goddess, they hid themselves under her 

 shield. The people saw, in this omen, Laocoon's 

 punishment for his impiety, in having pierced with 

 his spear the wooden horse, which was consecrated 

 to Minerva. Thus Virgil (;En. ii. 199) relates the 

 story. Other authors, for instance, Hyginus, give 

 different accounts, though agreeing in the main points. 

 The story has frequently furnished a subject to the 

 poets. Sophocles introduced it into a tragedy. But 

 it is chiefly interesting to us, as having given occa- 

 sion to one of the finest works of sculpture the 

 group of Laocoon, now in the Vatican. This was 

 discovered in 1506, by some persons digging in a 

 vineyard, on the site of the baths of Titus'. Pope 

 Julius II. bought it for an annual pension, and placed 

 it in the Belvedere, in the Vatican, where it has again 

 been placed since its restoration from Paris. The 

 preservation is perfect, except that the right arm of 

 Laocoon was wanting : this was restored by a skilful 

 pupil of Michael Angelo This group is so perfect a 

 work, so grand, so instructive for the student of the 

 fine arts, that many authors of all nations, particularly 

 Germans, have written on it ; of whom we may men. 

 tion Goethe, Heyne, Lessing, Hirt, Herder. It is a 

 most difficult subject. It represents three persons in 

 ngouy, but in different attitudes of struggling or fear, 



according to their ages, and the mental anguish of 

 the father. All connoisseurs declare the group per- 

 fect, the product of the most thorough knowledge of 

 anatomy, of character, and of ideal perfection. Ac- 

 cording to Pliny, it was the common opinion that this 

 group was made of one stone, by the sculptors Age- 

 sander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus, all three natives 

 of Rhodes, and the two latter probably sons of the 

 former. Doubts exist respecting the era of this 

 work. Maffei places it in the eighty-eighth Olym- 

 piad, or the first years of the Peloponnesian war; 

 Winckelmann, in the time of Lysippus and Alexan- 

 der ; Lessing makes it probable that those three 

 artists lived under the first emperors. It may be 

 fairly doubted whether the statue, mentioned by 

 Pliny, is the same which we now have ; at least, 

 acute observers have found that the group does not 

 consist of one block, though the junctions are very 

 carefully concealed. To this it may be answered, 

 that they were not, perhaps, perceptible in the time of 

 Pliny. Several copies exist of this matchless pro- 

 duction ; one in bronze, from a model by Giacopo 

 Tatti or Sanzovino, which was carried to France. 

 Bacio Bandinelli made a copy, which is in the Medici 

 gallery, at Florence. The group is placed on a 

 pedestal, about the height of a man, which seems to 

 be too low, Laocoon being above the natural size. 

 Lessing wrote a work, called Laokoon, or the Boun- 

 daries of Painting and Poetry, in which he draws 

 illustrations from this subject, because it has been 

 handled by a poet and by plastic artists. 



LAODICE ; 1. a daughter of Priam and Hecuba, 

 who became enamoured of Acamas, son of Theseus, 

 when he came, with Diomedes, from the Greeks to 

 Troy, on an embassy, to demand the restoration of 

 Helen. She had a son by Acamas, whom she called 

 Munitus. She afterwards married Helicaon, son of 

 Antenor, and Telephus, king of Mysia. Some called 

 her Astyoche. According to the Greek scholiast 

 of Lycophron, Laodice threw herself down from the 

 top of a tower, and was killed, when Troy was sacked 

 by the Greeks. 



2. One of the Oceanides. 



3. A daughter of Cinyras, by whom Elatus had 

 some children. 



4. A daughter of Agamemnon, called also Electra. 



5. A sister of Mithridates, who married Ariarathes, 

 king of Cappadocia, and afterwards her own brother, 

 Mithridates. During the absence of Mithridates, she 

 prostituted herself to her servants, believing that her 

 husband was dead; but when she saw her expecta- 

 tions frustrated, she attempted to poison Mithridates, 

 for which she was put to death. 



6. A queen of Cappadocia, put to death by her 

 subjects for poisoning five of her children. 



7. A sister and wife of Antiochus II. She put to 

 death Berenice, whom her husband had married. 

 She was murdered by order of Ptolemy Euergetes. 



8. A daughter of Demetrius, shamefully put to death 

 by Ammonius, the tyrannical minister of the vicious 

 Alexander Bala, king of Syria. 



9. A daughter of Seleucus. 



10. The mother of Seleucus. 



LAODICEA ; a city of Asia, on the borders of 

 Caria, Phrygia, and Lydia, celebrated for its com- 

 merce and the fine wool of its sheep. It was origin- 

 ally called Diospolis, and afterwards Rhoas. It 

 received the name of Laodicea, in honour of Laodice, 

 the wife of Antiochus. There were several other 

 places of the same name. 



LAOMEDON ; in fabulous history, the son of Ilus, 

 king of Troy. He married Strymo, called by some 

 Placia or Leucippe, by whom he had Podarces, after- 

 wards known by the name of Priam, and Hesione. 

 He built the walls of Troy, and was assisted by 



