As men and gentlemen were then, he was justified.
The description of Verres's rapacity in regard to the corn tax is long and complex, and need hardly be followed at length, unless by those who desire to know how the iniquity of such a one could make the most of an imposition which was in itself very bad, and pile up the burden till the poor province was unable to bear it.

There were three kinds of imposition as to corn.

The first, called the "decumanum," was simply a tithe.
The producers through the island had to furnish Rome with a tenth of their produce, and it was the Praetor's duty, or rather that of the Quaestor under the Praetor, to see that the tithe was collected.

How Verres saw to this himself, and how he treated the Sicilian husbandmen in regard to the tithe, is so told that we are obliged to give the man credit for an infinite fertility of resources.

Then there is the "emptum," or corn bought for the use of Rome, of which there were two kinds.