How did Roman legionaries remove gold from the stomach of a vanquished enemy?

Question

I was once told by a History major (& former Marine) that when some enemies of Rome would find themselves about to become vanquished, they would swallow their gold (or other small valuables). This was presumably to keep the Romans from getting the goods - or to prolong the life of the vanquished. Reportedly the Romans were inspired to invent the original, true 'knife hand" - a thrust that would penetrate the stomach of the swallower and relive them of their valuables!

Answer 1

What they actually did was tear off their heads and **** down their throats hoping the gold would come out.  Unfortunately it never worked....

Answer 2

I assume they cut it out of them.  The legion would traditionally sacrifice prisoners, cutting off their limbs, and putting their entrails into a fire.

Answer 3

Gold is not digestible, and is not harmed by its passage through the digestive tract.  If you captured some prisoners, then it all depends whether or not if you are willing to kill them all to see if they have swallowed gold.  Maybe you wanted to keep some alive for prisoner exchange or ransom.  Extracting the gold without killing them takes time, if you let the digestive process takes its course.  Stabbing the prisoner in the stomach and grabbing inside might miss the goodies. To be sure, you can just slice them open, remove the stomach and intestines, and burn them.  The gold, which has a melting point of 1947°F, would hardly be affected by a wood fire.  You just sift through the ashes later, and viola!  You see if they had nothing.

Unfortunately the prisoners do not survive the quick method, so there goes your ransom or prisoner exchange. But if you were going to kill them anyway, it was probably worth a shot.

Grandpa