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Quae prosunt non temeranda.

Useful things should not be thrown away.

Seated woman holding grain in frount of short pillar billowing with smoke. On other side of the pillar a person attends to a lying down pig. Pastoral scene in background.
[Click on image to enlarge]

Utile quod vitae est semper honores,
Et meritas laudes ritč meretur.
Nec leviter cuivis proiiciendum.
Quae sacra sunt porcis non ea curae.
Nec precium norunt quid valiturae
Sunt segetes, tantłm bestiae opimam
Saginam cumulant, ventris onusque.
Ergo sues rectč sacrificabat
Frugiferae quondam grata vetustas,[1]
Semper & ą bobus continuit se
Agricolis, quorum maximus usus.

That which is useful for life always wins honour and deserves the righteous praise it gets, nor should it be easily thrown away by anyone. Pigs have no concern for what is sacred, nor do they know the value of a healthy crop of wheat, but, dumb beasts, they only stuff the rich fat and burden of their bellies. So thankful men of old quite rightly used to sacrifice pigs to the goddess of the harvest, and avoided the cattle who turn the soil, for they are very useful to the farmer.

Notes:

1.  The goddess of the harvest (Ceres - Demeter): the reference is to the ancient Athenian cult of the Thesmophoria.

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