"Father Nile."

VATICAN, ROME.

The famous group called "Father Nile" was discovered near the church of Santa Maria, in the time of Leo X. (1513-22). It is believed to be an ancient copy of a group described by Pliny as having been placed by Vespasian in the Temple of Peace. The recumbent figure, resting with one arm upon a sphinx (the symbol of Egypt), is one of the grandest figures in the Vatican. The 16 little pigmies that are so gracefully sporting about him and climbing over him are allegorical of the 16 cubits rise of the Nile when it begins to irrigate the land. The sixteenth little pigmy seems to be coming to life out of a basket of fruit; showing, perhaps, that they are intended to represent the fertility of the Nile. The base represents the river Nile, in which may be seen the Nile boats, the ibis, the stork, the hippopotamus, the ox, the lotus, the ichneumon, and the sacred crocodile.