Swallowing Coins

When I was a boy, a gentleman in our neighborhood had a reputation for being a skinflint. A story circulated that when his son swallowed a nickel, he searched through the excrement until he recovered the coin. My brother also recalls this story.

I was reminded of this story recently when I read Josephus, Jewish Wars 5.420-421 (tr. H. St. J. Thackeray):

The people, however, were incited to desert; and selling for a trifling sum, some their whole property, others their most valuable treasures, they would swallow the gold coins to prevent discovery by the brigands, and then, escaping to the Romans, on discharging their bowels, have ample supplies for their needs.

ὁ δὲ δῆμος ἐκινήθη πρὸς αὐτομολίαν. καὶ οἱ μὲν τὰς κτήσεις ἐλαχίστου πωλοῦντες, οἱ δὲ τὰ πολυτελέστερα τῶν κειμηλίων, τοὺς μὲν χρυσοῦς, ὡς μὴ φωραθεῖεν ὑπὸ τῶν λῃστῶν, κατέπινον, ἔπειτα πρὸς τοὺς Ῥωμαίους διαδιδράσκοντες, ὁπότε ενέγκαιεν εὐπόρουν πρὸς ἃ δέοιντο.

The incident in Josephus had a horrible sequel. Two thousand of the Jews who escaped were disembowelled by Syrians who learned about the swallowed coins (5.550-552).