Note 2376 — Chapter XVI · COMITIAL LEGISLATION From the Gracchi to Sulla 134-82
Reading edition
It seems to be a mistake for Spurius Thorius (Cic. Brut. 36. 136: “Sp. Thorius .... qui agrum publicum vitiosa et inutili lege vectigali levavit”). By interpreting this sentence “Sp. Thorius ... who relieved the public land of a defective and useless law by the imposition of a vectigal,” Mommsen (in Verhdl. sächs. Gesellsch. d. Wiss. 92 f.) attempts to bring Cicero into agreement with Appian. But the interpretation is violent and is not generally accepted. The statement of Cicero applies to the law of 111 far better than to that which Appian mentions under the name of Borius.