 In the Second Punic War, the Hirpini appear as an independent people, acting apart from the rest of the Samnites.Livy expressly uses the name of Samnium in contradistinction to the land of the Hirpini.The latter people was one of those that declared in favour of Hannibal immediately after the battle of Cannae, 216 BC; but the Roman colony of Beneventum never fell into the hands of the Carthaginian general.