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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [Dd8v p64]

In dies meliora.

Getting better every day.

EMBLEMA XLV.

A bristly boar (labelled Ulterius) with a man pointing to a banner with the words PLUS OLTRE wrapped round two pillars.
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Rostra novo mihi setigeri suis[1] obtulit anno,
Haecque cliens ventri xenia, dixit, habe.
Progreditur semper, nec retrò respicit unquam,
Gramina cùm pando proruit ore vorax.
Cura viris eadem est, ne spes sublapsa retrorsum
Cedat, & ut melius sit, quod & ulterius.[2]

A dependant of mine brought me the head of a bristly boar at the New Year and said: Here is a present for your insides. - The pig always moves forwards and never looks back as it greedily tears up plants with its flat snout. - Men have the same attitude - they don’t want hopes to collapse and fall back, they do want what lies ahead also to be better.

Notes:

1.  setigeri suis, ‘of a bristly boar’. For pork as a seasonal present at the Saturnalia (17-23 December), see Martial, Epigrams, 14.71: ‘This pig, fattened on acorns among the foaming boars, will make your Saturnalia happy’.

2.  ulterius. This, the last word of the epigram, is written on the back of the boar in the pictura, where it suggests the meaning ‘ever onward’. Ulterius is sometimes used as a device of Charles V.

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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [A6r]

AMICITIA ETIAM POST MOR-
TEM DURANS.[1]

Friendship lasting even beyond death

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [A6v]

Grape vine wound round a tree
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Arentem senio, nudam quoque frontibus [=frondibus] ulmum,
Complexa est viridi vitis opaca coma.[2]
Agnoscitque vices naturae & grata parenti.
Officii reddit mutua iura suo.
Exemploque monet, tales non [=nos] quaerere amicos,
Quos neque disiungat foedere summa dies.

A vine shady with green foliage embraced an elm tree that was dried up with age and bare of leaves. The vine recognises the changes wrought by nature and, ever grateful, renders to the one that reared it the duty it owes in return. By the example it offers, the vine tells us to seek friends of such a sort that not even our final day will uncouple them from the bond of friendship.

Notes:

1.  See Erasmus’ famous variations on this theme in De copia (CWE 24. pp. 354-64).

2.  In ancient Italy young vines were often supported by elm trees. See Vergil, Georgics 1.2.

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