The Second Punic War appears as historical background in a concise reference to Hannibal, whose victories over Roman forces and conquest of Campania establish the scale of his campaign against Rome. The book does not narrate the war as a continuous episode; instead, it invokes a few concrete military achievements to identify Hannibal and situate him within the conflict.

Hannibal’s Campaign

Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, fought Rome during the Second Punic War. The evidence singles out his defeat of the Romans at Lake Trasimene in 217 BC, one of the war’s notable engagements, and notes that he defeated them elsewhere as well. These references make his success more than a single battlefield episode: the campaign repeatedly challenged Roman power.

Conquest and Historical Scope

The account also records Hannibal’s conquest of Campania, a province in southern Italy. Together, the victory at Lake Trasimene and the expansion into Campania sketch a campaign that reached into Roman territory. The entry offers no further sequence of battles, account of the war’s conclusion, or description of its consequences; its focus remains Hannibal’s military record as the context needed for the surrounding discussion.