查字典:subjugate, vb, subdue; bring (a group of people) under one's control.
查“etymology dictionary", 发现下列解释:www.ddhw.com
from L.L. subjugationem(nom. subjugatio), from L. subjugatus, pp. of subjugare "to subdue," lit. "bring under a yoke," from sub "under" + jugumwww.ddhw.com
Lit. "bring under a yoke," 引起了我的兴趣。记得在读“圣经”时(声明:本人是无神论者,读“圣经”只是出于对历史,和文学的好奇)曾读到过类似的语句。
"。。。he said not require the blood of the Aequi; they might go, but, that they might at least be forced to confess that their nation had been defeated and subdued, they should pass beneath the yoke as they departed. A yoke was fashioned of three spears, two being fixed in the ground and the third laid across them and made fast. Under this yoke the dictator sent th Aequi."www.ddhw.com
----History of Rome, by Livy, translated by B. O. Foster
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从此,又有多次战争都是以这样的方式(避免大量的流血)结束的。其中最为著名的是公元前321年和110年的两次战争。罗马军队分别败于Samnites部落(现瑞士)和Numantian king Jugurtha. 战败的的罗马军队Passing through "under the yoke" 不但没有受到羞辱,反而被给与衣物,食品和回家的费用。大有“化干戈为玉帛”的意思。现代瑞士人引以为豪的Charles Gleyre(1808-1874)的油画“The Romans Passing Under the Yoke"
就描述的是Samnites的胜利。
从此以后,“passing through "under the yoke" (后来又演变成今天的“passing through "under the arch") 就常常用来表达“一种新生活的重新开始”。今天,毕业的士官生,结婚的新人“passing through "under the arch (yoke)" (Saber's yoke, flower yoke) 就是出自这里,表示了“一种新生活的开始。”www.ddhw.com
而“under the yoke“本身仍然表达着“subjugation", 即受压迫,受屈从,被羞辱的意思。最近,就读到一篇文章“Iraq Under American Yoke。"