LAOCOON. punishment was said to have been inflicted upon him for dissuading the Trojans to bring into the city the fatal wooden horse which the Greeks had consecrated to Minerva, as also for his impiety in hurling a javelin against the sides of the horse as it entered within the walls. According to Hyginus, he suffered the above punishment for his marriage against the consent of Apollo, or, according to others, for his polluting the temple, by his commerce with his wife Antiopie, before the statue of the god.