"Two serpents ... their destined way they take, And to Laocoön and his children make: And first around the tender boys they wind, Then with their sharpened fangs their limbs and bodies grind. The wretched father, running to their aid With pious haste, but vain, they next invade; Twice round his waist their winding volumes rolled, And twice about his gasping throat they fold. The priest thus doubly choked, their crests divide, And towering o'er his head in triumph ride." VIRGIL, "Æn.," ii. 209: DRYDEN. _We now enter the_ ROOM OF THE MELEAGER, the hero sung of by Greek and Latin poets. Found in the year 1500 outside the Porta Portese. 20, The Loves of Æneas and Dido; 17, Inscription relating to the foundation of the temple of Hercules Victor by the consul Mummius. THE ROUND VESTIBULE. In the centre is a basin of pavonazzetto; on the balcony a very rare ancient sun-dial, found in 1770 near the Colosseum. The view from here has given to this balcony the name BELVEDERE. It commands a beautiful panoramic scene of Rome and the Campagna, bounded by the distant Alban and Sabine Hills. VESTIBULE. The gray peperino sarcophagus was discovered in the tomb of the Scipios on the Via Appia in 1780. It contained the remains of Scipio Barbatus. When it was opened, two thousand years after his death, the skeleton was found entire, with a ring upon one of the fingers. The ring passed into the hands of the Earl of Beverley, and the bones were removed to Padua by the Venetian senator, Angelo Quirini. On the wall are inscriptions found in the tomb. A bust of the poet Ennius surmounts the sarcophagus. THE TORSO of Hercules. The work of Apollonius, son of Nestor of Athens. Found near the Theatre of Pompey. It is considered to be the most perfect resemblance to human flesh, and was greatly admired by Raphael and Michael Angelo, the latter declaring that he was its pupil. _Descending the stairs we reach_ THE CHIARAMONTI CORRIDOR,