I.a wheel.
I. Lit.: “pro rotā me uti licet,” Plaut. Capt. 2, 3, 9; cf.: “vorsutior es quam rota figularis,” id. Ep. 3, 2, 35: “orbes rotarum,” Lucr. 6, 551; Plin. 8, 16, 19, § 52: “axes rotarum,” id. 16, 43, 84, § 229: “radiata,” Varr. R. R. 3, 5, 15: “aurea curvatura summae rotae, Ov M. 2, 108: aquaria,” Cato, R. R. 11, 3: ne currente rotā funis eat retro, while the wheel (in a hoisting machine) hurries forward, Hor. C. 3, 10, 10 et saep.—
2. In partic.
a. A potter's wheel (cf. supra, figularis): “amphora coepit Institui: currente rotā cur urceus exit?” Hor. A. P. 22; so, “Cumana,” Tib. 2, 3, 48: “Aristarchus invenit rotam figuli, cujus circuitu vasa formantur,” Sen. Ep. 90, 31.—
b. A wheel for torture (τροχός, among the Greeks): “in rotam beatam vitam non escendere,” Cic. Tusc. 5, 9, 24: “cervicem circumactu rotae frangere,” Sen. Ep. 70, 23; App. M. 3, p. 133; 10, p. 243; Sen. Herc. Oet. 1011.—Ixion's wheel, Tib. 1, 3, 74; Verg. G. 4, 484; id. A. 6, 616; Sen. Herc. Fur. 750 et saep.—
c. A roller: “aliquid subjectis rotis traicere,” Front. 1, 5, 7: “propellere,” Tac. H. 4, 23; Vitr. 10, 13, 2.—
B. Poet., transf.
1. (Pars pro toto.) A car, chariot: si rota defuerit, tu pede carpe viam, Ov.A. A. 2,230; cf. (opp. pedibus) id. M. 1, 448; so Prop. 1, 2, 20; 2, 25 (3, 20), 26; “4 (5), 10, 42: subdiderat rotas,” Verg. A. 12, 675; Ov. M. 2, 139; 312; 3, 150. —Of the span of horses: “Cynthia fraternis afflata rotis,” Sil. 4, 483.—
2. Of things in the shape of a wheel or disk.
a. The disk of the sun: “solis rota,” Lucr. 5, 432; 564; cf.: “flammea Phoebi,” Sen. Herc. Oet. 1022; and simply rota, Enn. ap. Isid. Orig. 18, 36 fin.; Val. Fl. 3, 559.—
b. A kind of sea-fish, Plin. 9, 4, 3, § 8; 32, 11, 53, § 144.—
II. Trop., a wheel: “fortunae rotam pertimescere,” i. e. fickleness, inconstancy, Cic. Pis. 10, 22; cf.: “versatur celeri Fors levis orbe rotae,” Tib. 1, 5, 70; Prop. 2, 8, 8 (10); Tac. Or. 23; Amm. 26, 8, 13.—Poet.: “imparibus vecta Thalia rotis,” i. e. in elegiac metre, Ov. A. A. 1, 264; so, “disparibus (elegorum) rotis,” id. P. 3, 4, 86: jactor, crucior, agitor, stimulor, vorsor in amoris rotā miser, on the rack of love (cf. I. A. 2. b. supra), Plaut. Cist. 2, 1, 4.
