Commentary Par XVI 46-48

Answering the protagonist's third question, Cacciaguida leaves us in a quandary because his response is not clear.  The males of 'draft age' (as we would say today) in early-twelfth-century Florence were 20% of (a) the entire population in 1300 or (b) the males of draft age in 1300.  The Italian would clearly (as our translation suggests) indicate that the first is what is meant.  Bosco/Reggio (DDP Bosco.Par.XVI.48) point out that Villani (Cron. VIII.39) states that in 1300 the population of Florence was greater than 30,000; does that mean that two hundred years earlier those capable of bearing arms numbered 6,000?  This seems a high figure, causing some (e.g., Singleton [DDP Singleton.Par.XVI.48]) to suggest that two hundred years earlier that figure was ca. 2,000.  See C.Par.XVI.67-72.