On this point, Zumpt, in the Dissertation before quoted, entirely disagrees with M.de la Malle.

Zumpt has likewise detected the mistake of M.de la Malle as to the "canon" of corn, mentioned in the life of Septimius Severus by Spartianus.

On this canon the French writer calculates the inhabitants of Rome at that time.

But the "canon" was not the whole supply of Rome, but that quantity which the state required for the public granaries to supply the gratuitous distributions to the people, and the public officers and slaves; no doubt likewise to keep down the general price.

M.Zumpt reckons the population of Rome at 2,000,000.