Being Yoked: The Literal And Figurative Meaning Of Being Yoked
In the mountains east of Latium, there lived a rather wild people called AEquians, who were very often at war with Rome. After some time of peace and good conduct, these people suddenly began to plunder the rich farms of the Romans. This was about 450 years before the birth of Christ. As soon as the Roman Senate heard what the AEquians were doing, it sent messengers to the AEquian king to complain of the wrong. The messengers found the king in his camp, sitting near a huge oak tree. But when they spoke to him he answered them rudely, saying:
“I am too busy now with other matters. Go tell your message to the oak yonder!”
And it is said that the angry messengers did tell the message to the oak, and to all the other trees around, and boldly shouted that war would come from this insult to Rome. Once the messengers returned to Rome and told how they had been insulted by the AEquian king, the Senate at once declared war against the AEquians and ordered the Consul Minucius to lead an army against them.
The Romans easily won a few battles at first. Then the AEquians began to retreat as if they did not mean to fight anymore. The Romans followed swiftly, until they were drawn into a narrow valley on each side of which were high, rocky hills. It was a trap, and the Romans knew it before they had marched very far from the entrance.
The AEquian king then closed up the valley with strong barricades and placed his troops at the entrance and along the hills, so that the Romans could not get out.
In the valley, there was little grass for the horses and no food for the men, so that if the Romans were not soon relieved, both they and their horses would die of hunger.
But luckily for the Romans, a few of their horsemen had managed to get out of the valley before the AEquians closed it. They rode as fast as they could to Rome and told the Senate. What was to be done?
After a good deal of discussion, Lucius Quinctius, known also as...
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