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In dies meliora.

Getting better every day.

Emblema xlv.

A bristly boar (labelled Ulterius) with a man pointing behind it to columns with a banner 'Plus Oltre'
[Click on image to enlarge]

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.

OCcasione suilli rostri sibi à cliente quodam pro
xeníis oblati, significat occasionem unde-
cúnque nobis esse captandam ulteriùs progre-
diendi, ut labore & diligentia promoveamur, suc-
cessúmque optatum consequamur, adeò ut non ro-
vocemur ab officio faciendo occasione levicula, &
quod ulterius fuerit, sit semper melius.

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [H8r f68r]

Tousjours de bien en mieux.

UN mien voisin bien & beau
Donna un jour mes estrenes
Pour recognoistre mes peines,
Une teste de pourceau.
Le pourceau ne se destourne
Ayant le museau devant,
Ains maschant marche en avant,
Et arriere ne retourne.
Les hommes doivent penser
Tousjours de bien en mieux faire,
Poursuivans un bon affaire,
Et tousjours à s’advancer.

PRenant occasion d’un groin de pour-
ceau, qui luy fut donné en present par
un sien client, il donne à entendre que nous
devons recercher tous moyens de passer
tousjours oultre, à ce que par labeur & dili-
gence nous-nous advancions, & que venions
au but desiré, de façon que ne soyons retar-
dez par occasion legiere, ains que faisions
de bien en mieux.

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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