Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Subjugium

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. 

SUBJUG'IUM (μέσαβον). the under-yoke; a wooden frame fastened underneath the yoke (jugum), at each of its extremities, by a bolt, or a leathern thong (lorum subjugium, Cato, R. R. lxiii. Id. cxxxv. 5.), which rested upon the animal's neck, and encircled it like a collar, as exhibited by the annexed example (Subjugium/1.1), from an ancient MS. of Hesiod. (Vitruv. x. 3. 8. Hesiod. Op. 469. Callim. Gram. ap. Procl. ad l. μέσσαβα βοῦς ὑποδύς.) When the yoke itself was formed with two curvatures at its extremities, as was frequently the case (see the example s. JUGUM), there would be no necessity for these additional collars; but their object was to enable the carter, or ploughman, to distribute the work between two animals of unequal powers in a proportion suitable to the strength of each, by making the point of draught farther removed from the centre on one side than on the other, which would throw the most work upon the animal nearest to the pole (Vitruv. l. c.), and could be easily effected by shifting one of the collars nearer to, or further from it.

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  Subjugium/1.1