plaustrum, -ī [2/n]: a two-wheeled or four-wheeled cart (plaustrum maius) / wagon with heavy solid wooden wheels and pulled by a pair of yoked oxen
Terram cariōsam cave nē ārēs, nēve plaustrum
nēve pecus impellās; (Cato)
- Be careful not to plough crumbling / rotten soil, nor to drive a wagon or livestock over it;
Nunc quōquō veniās plūs plaustrōrum in
aedibus videās quam rūrī, quandō ad vīllam vēnerīs (Plautus)
- Wherever you go these days, you see more wagons
among city houses than in the country, when you visit a farm.
The wheels and axle were joined, revolving together that
caused a creaking or screeching (strīdēns, -ntis) noise.
montīsque per altōs contentā cervīce trahunt
strīdentia plaustra (Virgil)
- and across high mountains, with strained neck, they drag the creaking wagons
Note Virgil’s use of contentā and trahunt
to convey that the wagon is a slow vehicle transporting heavy loads.
Ovid makes the same comment on the noise of the plaustrum:
...incūstōdītae dīripiuntur opēs, / rūris opēs
parvae, pecus et strīdentia plaustra...
- ... unprotected wealth is plundered—the meager wealth of the countryside, the cattle, and the screeching wagons ...
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