sun.
Only one tower remains, with doors on first and second-floor level and a
S. Mark's lion in relief. The island was the ancient Curicta, near which
there was a sea-fight between the ships of Caesar and Pompey in 49 B.C.,
when the Istrians took the part of the latter. The Caesarian fleet under
Dolabella was destroyed, and Caius Antonius, Caesar's general, was shut
up in Veglia, where he was encamped with two legions. The soldiers
constructed three rafts made of two rows of boats fastened together with
chains, and with a platform of beams upon them, and a great tower at one
end, by means of which the rowers were to be protected and the enemy
attacked. Octavian, Pompey's admiral, retired behind Cherso, but left
the channel fouled with ropes and chains fastened to the rocks. In the
afternoon the rafts which had been launched reached the narrow part of
the strait. The two smaller ones got through, but the largest stuck.
Octavian then attacked. On the big raft were one thousand Opitergian
colonists, under the captaincy of the tribune Vulteius. They fought till
night, when, seeing that their case was hopeless, they determined to die
rather than surrender. At dawn the struggle recommenced, the Istrians
joining in the attack. The end was the suicide of Vulteius and his
followers, and the surrender of the cohorts on the island.

From 1126 the islands of the Quarnero belonged to Venice, but the peace
of Zara in 1358 ceded Dalmatia to Hungary and Veglia with it; and, when
Ladislas sold Dalmatia to Venice in 1409, Veglia was excluded, being
formally ceded by the last Count Giovanni in 1480. Nicholas Frangipani,
who was count in 1409, had nine sons, and left his property equally
divided among them, so that there were nine counts of Veglia at the same
time. Giovanni, the eldest, to make himself secure against his brothers,
put himself under the protection of Venice in 1452, married a daughter
of Paolo Morosini, and published his will in 1453, by which he left the
island to the Republic if he died without issue, thus making it clear to
his brothers that he was determined that they should never have the
island, and that if they tried to take it by force he would be protected
by Venice. At the same time he swore to the inhabitants to preserve
their ancient laws and customs. He had no intention of keeping his word
in any particular, and played off Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary,
against Venice in the most unblushing manner, making