The engraving attempts to illustrate a glimpse of the history of the subject, but also convey Raphael's commentary on the restorations of antiquity. In Dente's print of the Laocoon and his Sons, he uses the 'R S' monogram to record a different version of the fate of the Trojan priest. Raphael wanted to see Rome restored to its former glory. The piece seeks to 'harmonize the Plinian sculpture with the Virgilian narrative'. Evidenced by the inscription of an excerpt from Book II of the Aeneid, and the inscription of text from Pliny's Natural History. The evidence of Rome is seen through architectural structures and fragments; the depiction of an obelisk, as well as the style of the temple on the hill is equally iconically Roman.