prōlētārĭus, ĭi, m. [proles].
I According to a division of the people by Servius Tullius, a citizen of the lowest class , who served the State not with his property , but only with his children (proles), a proletary : qui aut non plus mille quingentum aeris aut omnino nihil in suum censum praeter caput attulissent, proletarios nominavit, ut ex iis quasi proles [id est quasi progenies] civitatis exspectari videretur, Cic. Rep. 2, 22, 40; cf Liv. 1, 43; Fragm. XII. Tab. ap. Gell. 16, 10, 1; Enn. ib. (Ann. v. 189 Vahl.): proletarios lucrari plures, Amm. 19, 11, 7: proletarium capite censum, dictum quod ex his civitas constet, quasi proles progenie: iidem et proletanei, Fest. p. 228 Müll.—*
II Transf., adj., low , common : sermo, Plaut. Mil. 3, 1, 157.