Reposted by Nicholson Price
Animals are really a great analogy, we have a legal construct already for "thing that you own which behaves unpredictably" and the standard is "you are responsible for the damage it causes so make sure you restrain it appropriately."
![The photo by Juan Jose Fuldain for MOLA shows four images of the same Roman iron stylus (pen) one below the other, with knib to the left. The stylus is octagonal in shape, with a dot-punched inscription along its length on four alternate sides. The stylus is 132 mm long and 5 mm thick, and the letters are circa 2 mm high. The four images of the pen show the four lines of inscribed text (highlighted) which read:
'ab urbe v[e]n[i] munus tibi gratum adf (e)ro acul[eat]um ut habe[a]s memor[ia]m nostra(m)
rogo si fortuna darlelt quo possem
largius ut longa via ceu sacculus est (v)acuus'
Translated as
I have come from the City. I bring you a welcome gift with a sharp point that you may remember me.
I ask, if fortune allowed, that I might be able (to give) as generously as the way is long (and) as my purse is empty.'
This inscription is generally interpreted by scholars as a humorous, tongue-in-cheek acknowledgment by the giver of the cheapness of the gift.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:j56ydp325adovobhwpkzc6sp/bafkreiflmumn37zldrqn4gepyqs55kamhvatkkpepk5tq56rqq4pssxb64)
