After Cicero has established once more what has happened, he proceeds to explore once again why the Lampsacenes acted as they did. The key term of the paragraph, then, is causa, which Cicero uses five times. Verres is unable to give any reason for the uproar; Cicero raises and dismisses the possibility that Rubrius alone is to blame; and his witnesses blame Verres: all this Cicero takes to confirm Verres’ guilt in the matter. The paragraph thus continues the theme that Cicero first introduced in § 70: that Verres has never been able to offer a satisfactory explanation for why the people of Lampsacus attacked his house during his visit (… neque adhuc causam ullam excogitare potuit quam ob rem commiserit, aut quid evenerit, ut in tantum periculum veniret).
