The Greeks were reputed masters of the art of wilful misrepresentation to achieve goals. Odysseus was much
admired for his skill at deception. If Greeks had a
Pinocchio, he would have been rewarded by enlargement
of the phallus, not punished by protrusion of the proboscis.

In thinking about infant on father's knee, it occurred to me
that the Roman diaper service was so inadequate that to take
an alimentary canal with a loud noise at one end and no
reponsibility at the other onto the paternal knee would have
not been at all appealing.