I remember reading somewhere that Roman emperors would give troublesome patricians an elephant as a gift. If he let the elephant die it was a grave insult and t

I remember reading somewhere that Roman emperors would give troublesome patricians an elephant as a gift. If he let the elephant die it was a grave insult and the emperor would proscribe him and take all his stuff. And otherwise he’d be stuck paying for the upkeep of a useless elephant.