Blind to the treacherous snare, when Fate decreed
That Troy should perish by the wooden steed;
The rest stood fix'd with hesitating fear,
While bold Laocoon hurl'd his forcesul spear
Against the monster, from whose knotty side
Resounding arms, and Grecian shrieks replied:
Stung by a snake the pious Priest expir'd,
While Folly gaz'd, and Ignorance admir'd;
This moral curb'd th' infatuated crew —
"The sacrilegious wretch Minerva slew."