Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Jugum

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich. 

JUGUM (ζυγόν). A yoke for draught animals (Cic. N. D. ii. 60. Cato, R. R. xi. 2. Vitruv. x. 3. 8.) It was attached to the end of a pole by a thong (cohum, lorum), or by a pin; and was frequently formed with two arcs to fit the necks of the animals on which it rested, in which case it is described by the epithet curvum (Ov. Fast. iv. 216.), to distinguish it from the plain straight curricle bar, which answered the same purpose; and a pair of loops or bands (ζεῦγλαι) at each extremity, which were tied round the animal's chest, to serve the purpose of a collar (subjugium). The whole of these several details are exemplified by the two illustrations introduced; the first (Jugum/1.1) of which is from a bas-relief found in the island of Magnensia; the second (Jugum/1.2), which shows the pin and the thongs round the chest, from a painting at Pompeii.

2. (ἄσιλλα, ἀνάφορον). A yoke for men to carry burdens upon. (Varro, R. R. ii. 2. 10.) It consisted of a pole slightly curved in the centre, and furnished with a strap at each end, to which the object was attached, somewhat in the same manner as our milk pails are carried; but with this material difference, that it was placed along the back, but across one shoulder, so that the objects suspended from it hung before and behind the person bearing it, who could thus shift his burden from one shoulder to the other (Aristoph. Ran. 8.) whenever he wished to ease the weight. The whole of this is illustrated by the annexed woodcut (Jugum/2.1); the top figure represents an original Egyptian yoke, not quite three feet seven inches long, with one of the straps belonging to it, of leather, and nearly sixteen inches long, now preserved in the British Museum; the object on the left hand shows the bottom of the strap upon a larger scale, the two ends of which are fastened together by a small thong, which not only served to connect them, but to receive a hook or an additional strap, if the nature of the burden required it; and the bottom figure in the centre shows the manner of using the instrument, from a fictile vase, which fancifully represents a Satyr carrying objects for a sacrifice to Bacchus.

3. The beam of a balance, or pair of scales; whence used as a name for the constellation Libra. (Cic. Div. ii. 47.) The example (Jugum/3.1) represents a bronze original.

4. A cross-bar connecting two uprights at the top, in order to form a frame upon which vines were trained (Varro, R. R. i. 8.); as explained and illustrated s. JUGATIO.

5. The cross-bar or transverse beam which united at the top the two sides of an upright loom; to which the threads of the warp were fastened (Ovid. Met. vi. 55.), when the loom was of the simplest kind, without a cloth beam (insubulum), and the web was driven down towards the bottom, instead of upwards; such as exhibited by the annexed example (Jugum/5.1), representing Circe's loom, from the Vatican Virgil.

6. The yoke under which the Romans compelled a vanquished enemy to pass without arms, in token of subjugation. (Liv. iii. 28. Flor. i. 11. 13.) It was formed by two spears stuck in the ground, with another fastened transversely over their tops, so as to present the same figure as the upright loom in the preceding woodcut. Festus s. v. Zonar. vii. 17.

7. The thwart, or cross-bench in a boat upon which the passenger sat. (Virg. Aen. vi. 481. of Charon's bark. Serv. ad l.) The illustration (Jugum/7.1) is from a Roman bas-relief.

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  Jugum/1.1
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  Jugum/1.2
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  Jugum/2.1
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  Jugum/3.1
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  Jugum/5.1
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  Jugum/7.1