Note 1688 — BOOK VI.
Lewis Evans translation
Protelo. The ablative of the old protelum, which is interpreted as "the continuous, unintermitting pull of oxen applied to a dead weight." Nothing could more forcibly express the hopeless task of attempting to detach the miser from his gains. Cf. xii., Fr. 2. Plin., IX., xv., 17. Lucret., ii., 532; iv., 192.