Commentary Inf XXVIII 9-11

Puglia (Apulia) here, most commentators agree, is meant in its wider sense, i.e., not only the southeast portion of the Italian peninsula, but the region including Lazio. The Trojans are then Aeneas and his men (some believe the reference is to the later Romans). The 'long war' is the second Punic War (218-201 B.C.), during which the Romans suffered a terrible defeat at the hands of Hannibal's Carthaginian forces at Cannae (216 B.C.) in Apulia. Historians relate that after the battle an envoy of Hannibal showed the Carthaginian senate the vast number of gold rings taken from the fingers of noble Romans killed in the battle.