Abstract: By amassing occurrences of the expression “le col sous la joug” in literature of the Renaissance, John O’Brien shows that La Boétie uses it in a new way, attaining the level of psychology. However, understood as an indicator of violence inflicted on nature, the “col sous la joug” is a figure which La Boétie summons precisely in order for it to be overtaken by a gesture of emancipation.
