Send under the yoke

Both the Romans and the Samnites forced the captives of their defeated enemies to pass under a yoke formed from spears.

In order to spare Horatius capital punishment and to allow him to remain within society, he was made to pass underneath a wooden beam as a form of atonement.

The early twentieth century historian W. Warde Fowler identified this as a means of removing "taboo" (sacer) and therefore in order to release their enemies they were stripped and passed under the yoke.

[4] Perhaps the most recognizable case of passing under the yoke followed the defeat of the Romans by the Samnites in 321 BC at the Caudine Forks.

[5] Eventually the practice of passing under the yoke was no longer about ritual removal of "guilt", and instead was a means of humiliating defeated enemies.