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. A second tithe had to be furnished at a price fixed by the
Roman Senate, which price was considered to be below that of its
real value, and then 800,000 bushels were purchased, or nominally
purchased, at a price which was also fixed by the Senate, but which
was nearer to the real value. Three sesterces a bushel for the first
and four for the last, were the prices fixed at this time. For making
these payments vast sums of money were remitted to Verres, of which
the accounts were so kept that it was hard to say whether any found
its way into the hands of the farmers who undoubtedly furnished the
corn. The third corn tax was the "aestimatum". This consisted of a
certain fixed quantity which had to be supplied to the Praetor for the
use of his governmental establishment--to be supplied either in grain
or in money. What such a one as Verres would do with his, the reader
may conceive.

All this was of vital importance to Rome. Sicily and Africa were the
granaries from which Rome was supplied with its bread. To get supplies
from a province was necessary. Rich men have servants in order that
they may live at ease themselves. So it was with the Romans to whom
the provinces acted as servants. It was necessary to have a sharp
agent, some Proconsul or Propraetor; but when there came one so sharp
as Verres, all power of recreating supplies would for a time be
destroyed. Even Cicero boasted that in a time of great scarcity, he,
being then Quaestor in Sicily, had sent extraordinary store of corn
over to the city.[124] But he had so done it as to satisfy all who
were concerned.