All of which is to say that even when we have an official census we generally figure is quite reliable and which has been faithfully transmitted to us, there is ample ground for uncertainty and confusion, though I must note that I think the debate about the population of Roman Italy has largely settled and the standard range of 4-5 million free persons (note that none of these figures include enslaved persons!) In the case of the Roman figures, the actual census figures put us on a firm enough basis to pin down a reasonably range for these other figures: poor-but-free persons are captured in the census numbers (particularly in Polybius’ figures for 225 which include the socii) and with a relatively complete grasp of the free population we can look to the other methods we’re about to…