Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/731

Rh LAOCOON. eon of No. 2 and grandson of No. 1, was consul in B. c. 440, with Proculus Geganius Maceriniis. During their consulship there was a great famine at Rome ; and a praefectus annonae was for the first time appointed, in the person of L. Minucius Augurinus [Augurinus, No. 5], though it was not till the following year that the great struggle between the patricians and Sp. Maelius came to a head. (Liv. iv. 12 ; Diod. xii. 36.) 5. Agrippa Mknenius T. f. Agrippae n. Lanatus, a brother of No. 4, was consul in b. c. 4;5y, with T. Quintius Capitolinus Barbatus ; but they had little to do with the government, as T. Quintius was forced to nominate Cincinnatus as dictator, in order to crush Sp, Maelius. Lanatus was one of the consular tribunes in B. c. 419, and a second time in 417. (Liv. iv. 13, 44, 47 ; Diod. xii. 37, xiii. 7.) 6. L. Menenius Lanatus, was consular tribune four times, first in B. c. 387, secondly in 380, thirdly in 378, and fourtlily in 376. (Liv. vi. 5, 27 ; Diod. XV. 24,50,71.) LA'NGARUS, king of the Agriani, a con- temporary of Alexander the Great, with whom he ingratiated himself even before the death of Philip. He rendered Alexander important services shortly after his accession, in his expedition against the Illyrians and Taulantians, when the Autariatae were preparing to attack him on his march. Lan- garus by an invasion of their territory prevented them from carrying their purpose into effect. Alex- ander conferred on him the most distinguished marks of his regard and favour, and promised him his half- sister Cynane in marriage ; but Ijangarus died soon after his return home. (Arrian, i. 5.) [C. P. M.] LANICE (AaviKT]), the nurse of Alexander the Great. She was the sister of Cleitus. [Cleitus.] (Arrian, iv. 9 ; Athen. iv. p. 129.) By Curtius (viii. 1) she is called Hellanice. Her two sons accompanied Alexander on his Asiatic expedition, and had fallen in battle before the death of Cleitus. According to Curtius they fell at the storming of Miletus. One of her sons was named Proteas. (Aelian, V. II. xii. 26 ; Athen. l. c.) He is mentioned as having been greatly addicted to drinking, a propensity which his descendants seem to have inherited from him. A Proteas, son of Andronicus, is mentioned by Arrian (ii. 2) ; but the statement of Curtius, above referred to, is against our supposing him to be the son of Lanice, as the capture of Miletus took place before the occasion on which he is mentioned by Arrian. [C. P. M.] LAOCOON {AuokSwv)^ a Trojan hero, who plays a prominent part in the post-Homeric legends about Troy, especially in the 'IXtou irepais^ the substance of which is preserved in Proclus's Chre- stomathia. He was a son of Antenor (Tzetz. ad Lj/coph. 347) or of Acoetes (Hygin. jPai. 135), and a priest of the Thymbraean Apollo, or, accord- ing to others, of Poseidon. (Tzetz. I. c. ; comp. Virg. Aen. ii. 201, with Serv. note.) His story runs as follows : — As the Greeks were unable to take Troy by force, they pretended to sail home, leaving behind the wooden horse. While the Trojans were assembled around the horse, deliber- ating whether they should draw it into their city or destroy it, Laocoon hastened to them from the city, and loudly cautioned them against the danger which it might bring upon them. While saying this he thrust his lance into the side of the horse. LAODAMAS. 717 (Virg. Aen. ii. 40, &c.) The Trojans, however, resolved to draw it into the city, and rejoiced at tlie peace which they thought they had gained at length, with sacrifices and feasting. In the mean- time Sinon, who had been taken prisoner, was brought before the Trojans, and by his cunning treachery he contrived to remove every suspicion from himself and the wooden horse. When he had finished his speech, and Laocoon was preparing to sacrifice a bull to Poseidon, suddenly two fearful serpents were seen swimming towards the Trojan coast from Tenedos. They rushed towards lao- coon, who, while all the people took to flight, re- mained with his two sons standing by the altar of the god. (Virg. l. c. 229 ; Hygin. Fah. 135.) The serpents first entwined the two boys, and then the father, who went to the assistance of his children, and all three were killed. (Virg. Aen. ii. 199 — 227 ; comp. Q. Smyrn. xii. 398, &c. ; Lycoph. 347.) The serpents then hastened to the acropolis of Troy, and disappeared behind the shield of Tritonis. The reason why Laocoon suffered this fearful death is differently stated. According to Virgil, the Trojans thought that it was because he had run his lance into the side of the horse, but according to others because, contrary to the will of Apollo, he had married and begotten children (Hj-gin. /. c), or because Poseidon, being hostile to the Trojans, wanted to show to the Trojans in the person of Laocoon what fate all of them deserved. The sublime story of the death of Laocoon was a fine subject for epic and lyric as well as tragic poets, and was therefore frequently treated by ancient poets,^such as Bacchylides, Sophocles, Euphorion, Lysimachus, the Pseudo-Peisander, Virgil, Petro- nius, Quintus Smyrnaeus, and others. But Laocoon is equally celebrated in the history of ancient art, as in that of ancient poetry ; and a magnificent group, representing the father with his two sons entwined by the two serpents, is still extant. It was dis- covered in 1506, in the time of pope Julius II., at Rome, in the Sette Sale, on the side of the Esquiline hill ; and the pope, who knew how to appreciate its value, purchased it from the proprietor of the ground where it had been found, for an annual pension, which he granted to him and his family. This group excited the greatest admiration from the moment it was discovered, and may be seen at Rome in the Vatican. Good casts of it exist in all the museums of Europe. Pliny (//. A^. xxxvi. 4, 1 1 ), who calls it the masterwork of all .art, says that it adorned the palace of the emperor Titus, and that it is the work of the Rhodian artists Agesander, Polydonis, and Athenodorus. He fur- ther states that the whole group consists of one block of marble, but a more accurate observation shows that it consists of five pieces. Respecting the excellent taste and wisdom which the artists have displayed in this splendid work, see Lessing, Laocoon oder uber die Grenzen der Malerei'uvd Poesie ; Heyne, Antiquarisclie Aufs'dtze^ ii. p. 1 — 52 ; Thiersch, Epochen, p. 322 ; Welcker, dus Academ. Kunstmuseum zu Bonn^ p. 27, &c. Another personage of the name of Laocoon is mentioned among the Argonauts. (ApoUon. Rhod. i. 192.) [L. S.J LAOCOOSA (AooKo'cDO-o), the wife of Apha- reus, and mother of Idas. (Theocrit. xxii. 206 ; comp. Apollod. iii. 1 0. § 3, who, however, calls the mother of Idas Arene.) [L. S.] LAO'DAMAS (Aao5<«/*as) 1. A son of Aloi-