The identification of this Military Tribune is beset with difficulties. The brother of Q. Fulvius, as he is described in Livy, whether of the Consul of 180 or of the Consul of 179 and Censor of 174, should not be a Nobilior but a Flaccus. According to Frontinus (Str. 4.1.32, without praenomen) and Velleius (1.10.6, with praenomen Cn.) the man who was expelled from the Senate in 174 was a brother, not of the Consul of 180, but of the Consul of 179 and Censor of 174. Livy (41.27.2), followed by Valerius Maximus (2.7.5), agrees that it was the brother of the Censor who was expelled, and notes the statement of Valerius Antias (Liv.) that he was also consors. But Livy gives the praenomen as Lucius and Velleius as Gnaeus. Furthermore the brother of the Censor, according to Livy (40.30.4), was in Spain with him in 181. It is possible for him to serve in Spain in 181, then serve as a Military Tribune in Liguria in 180 early enough to complete two months in charge of a legion before the arrival of the Consul and then be sent to Farther Spain before P. Manlius returned, but it is extremely unlikely. The existence of M. Fulvius Flaccus, brother of the Censor, is independently attested in the Act. Tr. on 123. No other text reveals the cognomen of a brother of the Consul of 180. Perhaps he became a Nobilior by adoption, in which case he would be Münzer's no. 93 (in RE). Only Frontinus and Valerius Maximus identify the Tribune with the brother of the Censor by giving the reason for his expulsion. Their source may have made an unwarranted connection between the two men. Nor is it sure that Marcus was the praenomen of the person expelled, since Livy has Lucius, which rarely occurs among either the Flacci or the Nobiliores, and Velleius, Gnaeus, and no source gives us the praenomen Marcus. In order to concentrate all this evidence upon the one person independently attested, M. Fulvius Flaccus, brother of the Censor and father of the triumphator of 123, Münzer has to brand as false the cognomen Nobilior, the presence of Marcus, brother of the Censor, in Spain in 181, and the only praenomina that are preserved in our sources regarding the expelled senator. No certain solution has been found. Perhaps the Censor had a second brother who was adopted by a M. Fulvius Nobilior. This would permit us to identify the Tribune with the senator and explain the emphasis in our sources on the words germanus and consors. We should still have to assume that in Livy 40.41.8 homonymous Consuls (180 and 179) were confused and discard the differing praenomina given to the expelled senator. (Broughton MRR I)
Served under the Consul Postumius in Liguria. Dismissed his forces without authority and was punished by being sent to Farther Spain (Liv. 40.41.8-10). He may be the Fulvius expelled from the Senate in 174 for this same offence (see note 3). (Broughton MRR I)