ceding inwards, join a straight face that belongs to the four smaller
sides, so that in all there are eight. The four angular sides, which jut
outwards, making a projection, give space for the four straight sides,
which recede inwards; and in each enclosed space is a basin of some
size, which receives water in great abundance from one of four River
Gods of marble that are placed on the edge of the basin of the whole
fountain, so as to command all the eight sides already described. The
fountain stands on a base of four steps, which form twelve sides; eight
longer sides, which contain the angles, and four smaller sides, where
the basins are, under the four River Gods. The borders of the fountain
are five palms high, and at each of the corners (which in all cover
twenty sides) there is a terminal figure as an ornament. The
circumference of the first basin with eight sides is one hundred and two
palms, and the diameter is thirty-four; and in each of the above-named
twenty sides is a little scene of marble in low-relief, with poetical
subjects appropriate to water and fountains, such as the horse Pegasus
creating the Castalian Fount, Europa passing over the sea, Icarus flying
and falling into the same, Arethusa transformed into a fount, Jason
crossing the sea with the Golden Fleece, Narcissus changed into a fount,
and Diana in the water and transforming Actaeon into a stag, with other
suchlike stories. At the eight angles that divide the projections of the
steps of the fountain, which rises two steps towards the basins and
River Gods, and four towards the angular sides, are eight Sea Monsters,
lying on certain dados, with their front paws resting on some masks that
pour water into some vases. The River Gods which are on the border, and
which rest within the basin on dados so high that they appear as if
sitting in the water, are the Nile with seven little boys, the Tiber
surrounded by an infinite number of palms and trophies, the Ebro with
many victories of Charles V, and the River Cumano, near Messina, from
which the waters for the fountain are taken; with some stories and
Nymphs executed with beautiful conceptions. Up to this level of ten
palms there are sixteen jets of water, very abundant; eight come from
the masks already mentioned, four from the River Gods, and four from
some fishes seven palms high, which, standing upright in the basin, with
their heads out, spout water towards the larger sides. In the centre of
the octa