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yokes

I have A Thing™ about yokes in literature, especially ancient Greco-Roman literature.

[CHORUS:] Then [Agamemnon] put on the yoke of Necessity.
His mind veered toward unholiness,
his nerve turned cold.
It is delusion makes men bold,
knocks them sideways,
causes grief.
Sacrificer of his own daughter he became.

Aeschylus (trans. Anne Carson), "Agamemnon", in An Oresteia, 155–161

To Iphigenia the most important difference between Greeks and barbarians is that Greeks are free (1400–1). Yet the characters in this play are under various yokes.

Mary Kay Gamel, "Introduction to Iphigenia at Aulis" in Women on the Edge, 314

ARTEMIS: Poor boy, you are yoked to such bad fortune.
Your own noble mind has ruined you.

Euripides (trans. Anne Carson), "Hippolytos" in Grief Lessons, 1494–95

Aphrodite’s justice requires that the man who refused the yoke of marriage should be dragged to death by the yoke of his own horses.

Anne Carson, "Preface to Hippolytos", in Grief Lessons, 168

Caesar remembered how the consul Lucius Cassius had been killed and his army beaten by the Helvetii and sent under the yoke, and decided to refuse.

Gaius Iulius Caesar (trans. Caroline Hammond), De Bello Gallico 1.7

Symbolism

The yoke has connotations of subservience and toiling; in some ancient cultures it was traditional to force a vanquished enemy to pass beneath a symbolic yoke of spears or swords.

"Yoke", Wikipedia

ELEKTRA: It is fixed. We stand in the yoke of necessity.

Euripides (trans. Anne Carson), "Orestes", in An Oresteia, 1062

...perque tuum nostrumque caput, quae iunximus una,
perque tuos enses, cognita tela meis—
nulla Mycenaeum sociasse cubilia mecum
iuro; fallentem deseruisse velis!

...and by your life and mine, which we yoke together, and by your sword, a weapon known by my people, I swear that the Mycenean man has not shared my bed; may you resolve to forsake me if I lie!

Ovid (trans. mine), Heroides 2.107–110

definitions

via Logeion (iugum and ζυγόν)

iugum

LewisShort

jŭgum, i, n. [kindred to Sanscr. yuga from yug-, jungere; Gr. ζυγόν; v. iungo], a yoke for oxen, a collar for horses.

  1. I Lit.: nos onera quibusdam bestiis, nos juga imponimus, Cic. N. D. 2, 60, 151: leones jugo subdere, et ad currum jungere, Plin. 8, 16, 21, § 55: (bos) juga detractans, Verg. G. 3, 57: tauris solvere, id. E. 4, 41: frena jugo concordia ferre, id. A. 3, 542; Ov. M. 12, 77: jugum excutere, Curt. 4, 15, 16.—
    • B Transf.
      • 1 A yoke, pair, team of draught-cattle: ut minus multis jugis ararent, Cic. Verr. 2, 3, 51, § 120; a pair of horses, Verg. A. 5, 147: aquilarum, a pair, Plin. 10, 4, 5, § 16.—Plur.: nunc sociis juga pauca boum, Juv. 8, 108; also for the chariot itself, Verg. A. 10, 594; Sil. 7, 683: curtum temone jugum, Juv. 10, 135.—
      • 2 A juger of land: in Hispania ulteriore metiuntur jugis: jugum vocant, quod juncti boves uno die exarare possint, Varr. R. R. 1, 10 (but in Plin. 18, 3, 3, § 9, the correct reading is jugerum; v. Sillig ad h. l.).—
      • 3 A beam, lath, or rail fastened in a horizontal direction to perpendicular poles or posts, a cross-beam, cross-rail: palmes in jugum insilit, Plin. 17, 22, 35, § 175: vineam sub jugum mittere, Col. 4, 22.—
      • 4 Esp. as the symbol of humiliation and defeat, a yoke, consisting of two upright spears, and a third laid transversely upon them, under which vanquished enemies were made to pass: cum male pugnatum apud Caudium esset, legionibus nostris sub jugum missis, Cic. Off. 3, 30, 109: exercitum sub jugum mittere, Caes. B. G. 1, 12; 1, 7; Quint. 3, 8, 3; Liv. 1, 26, 13; 2, 34, 9 al.; also, sub jugo mittere, id. 3, 28 fin.—
      • 5 The constellation Libra: Romam, in jugo cum esset luna, natam esse dicebat, Cic. Div. 2, 47, 98.—
      • 6 The beam of a weaver's loom: tela jugo vincta est, Ov. M. 6, 55.—
      • 7 A rower's bench, Verg. A. 6, 411.—
      • 8 A height or summit of a mountain, a ridge; also, a chain of mountains: in immensis qua tumet Ida jugis, Ov. H. 5, 138: montis, Verg. E. 5, 76; Caes. B. C. 1, 70: suspectum jugum Cumis, Juv. 9, 57; 3, 191.—
  3. II Trop., yoke, bonds of slavery, matrimony, etc.: Pa. Jamne ea fert jugum? Ph. Tam a me pudicast quasi soror mea, Plaut. Curc. 1, 1, 50 (50): cujus a cervicibus jugum servile dejecerant, Cic. Phil. 1, 2, 6: Venus Diductos jugo cogit aëneo, Hor. C. 3, 9, 18: accipere, Just. 44, 5, 8: exuere, to shake off, Tac. Agr. 31: excutere, Plin. Pan. 11: nondum subacta ferre jugum valet Cervice, the yoke of marriage, Hor. C. 2, 5, 1. —Of misfortune: ferre jugum pariter dolosi, Hor. C. 1, 35, 28: pari jugo niti, to work with equal efforts, Plin. Ep. 3, 9, 9: calamitates terroresque mortalium sub jugum mittere, to subjugate, Sen. de Prov. 4 init.: felices, qui ferre incommoda vitae, nec jactare jugum vita didicere magistra, Juv. 13, 22.

ζυγόν

LSJ

ζῠγόν, τό, also ζυγός, ὁ, (in various senses), h.Cer. 217, Pl. Ti. 63b, Theoc. 30.29, LXX Ge. 27.40, al., Plb. 4.82.2, Ev.Matt. 11.29, Jul. Or. 5.173a, etc.: rarely in pl., ζυγοί LXX Pr. 11.1, Sch. Th. 1.29: Delph. δυγός (q.v.).

  • I yoke of a plough or carriage, ζ. ἵππειον Il. 5.799, 23.392; ὑπὸ ζυγὸν ἤγαγεν ἵππους 5.731, cf. Od. 3.383; ἐπὶ ζυγὸν αὐχένι θεῖναι βουσί Hes. Op. 815, cf. 581; ὑπὸ ζυγόφιν (i.e. ζυγοῦ) λύον ἵππους Il. 24.576: prov., τὸν αὐτὸν ἕλκειν ζ. ‘to be in the same boat’, Aristaenet. 2.7, Zen. 3.43; ταὔτʼ ἐμοὶ ζ. τρίβεις Herod. 6.12.
    • 2 metaph., ἐπὶ ζυγὸς αὐχένι κεῖται h.Cer. 217; ἐχθροῖσιν ὑπὸ ζυγὸν αὐχένα θήσω Thgn. 1023; ἐπαυχένιον λαβεῖν ζ. Pi. P. 2.93; δούλιον ζ. the yoke of slavery, Hdt. 7.8.γʹ, A. Th. 75 (pl.), 471, etc.; δουλείας, ἀνάγκης ζ., S. Aj. 944, E. Or. 1330; ὑπὸ ζυγῷ λόφον δικαίως εἶχον S. Ant. 291; ἐπιτιθέναι τινὶ ζυγὰ τοῦ μὴ . . so as to prevent . ., X. Cyr. 3.1.27; ζυγῷ ζυγῆναι Pl. R. 508a; ἄγειν ὑπὸ τὸν ζ. τινάς Plb. 4.82.2, cf. D.H. 3.22; ὑπὸ τὸν ζ. ὑπαγαγεῖν D.C. Fr. 36.10; ζυγὸν ὑποστῆναι D.H. 10.20.
  • II crossbar of the φόρμιγξ, Il. 9.187.
    • 2 ζυγὸς ἡ τῆς ἀμπέλου πρὸς τὴν χάρακα συζυγία Gp. 5.29.6.
  • III in pl., thwarts or benches joining the opposite sides of a ship, Od. 9.99, 13.21, Hdt. 2.96: rarely in sg., θοὸν εἰρεσίας ζυγόν S. Aj. 249 (lyr.): metaph., of the seat of authority compared to the helmsmanʼs seat, ἐς τὸ πρῶτον πόλεος ζ. E. Ion 595; ἐπεὶ δʼ ἐπὶ ζυγοῖς καθέζετʼ ἀρχῆς Id. Ph. 74; σὺ ταῦτα φωνεῖς νερτέρᾳ προσήμενος κώπῃ, κρατούντων τῶν ἐπὶ ζυγῷ δορός; while on the main thwart sits authority, A. Ag. 1618; also of a coachmanʼs seat, box, PMasp. 303.15 (vi A.D.).
    • 2 in pl., panels of a door, IG 1(2).372.199, 2(2).1457.14, 1672.155; cf. ζευγίον.
  • IV beam of the balance, ζυγὸν ταλάντου A. Supp. 822 (lyr.), cf. Arist. Mech. 850a4: hence, the balance itself (cf. πῆχυς IV), αἴρειν τὸν ζυγόν Pl. Ti. 63b; ἐν πλάστιγγι ζυγοῦ κεῖσθαι Id. R. 550e; ζυγῷ or ἐν τῷ ζ. ἱστάναι, Lys. 10.18, Pl. Prt. 356b; ζυγὸν ἱστάναι D. Prooem. 55: in pl., Id. 25.46, SIG 975.39 (Delos, iii B.C.): prov., ζ. μὴ ὑπερβαίνειν Pythag. ap. D.L. 8.18.
      • b the constellation Libra, Hipparch. 3.1.5, Ph. 1.28, Man. 2.137, etc.; ζ. Ἀφροδίτης Porph. Antr. 22.
  • V καρχασίου the yard-arm at the mast head, Pi. N. 5.51, cf. Ach.Tat. 5.16.
  • VI cross-strap of a sandal, Ar. Lys. 417, Poll. 7.81; ζυγός, ὁ, Phot.
  • VII pair, κλεινὸν ζυγόν, of persons, E. Hel. 392; κατὰ ζυγά in pairs, Arist. HA 544a5, Theoc. 13.32.
  • VIII rank or line of soldiers, opp. file (στοῖχος), ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ ζ. ἐμάχοντο τέσσαρες Th. 5.68; ὁ ζυγός Polyaen. 4.4.3 (τὰ ζυγά 2.10.4); κατὰ ζυγόν line with line, Plb. 1.45.9; κατʼ ἄνδρα καὶ ζ. Id. 3.81.2; esp. front rank, Ael. Tact. 7.1, Arr. Tact. 8.1; also of the Chorus, Poll. 4.108.
  • IX ζυγὰ ἢ ἄζυγα even or odd, a game, Sch. Ar. Pl. 817.
  • X measure of land, SIG 963.13 (Amorgos, iv B.C.).