Ursus kills Croton

Ursus kills Croton while defending Lygia from Vinicius’s attempt to carry her away. The encounter leaves Vinicius alive and becomes a point of reckoning between him and Lygia: when they later pass the place where it happened, he acknowledges Ursus’s protection rather than seeking revenge, and Lygia asks him not to speak of the episode to Ursus.

The Encounter and Its Purpose

Vinicius recounts that he went with Croton to carry Lygia away. Ursus intervened to protect her, killing Croton and then turning on Vinicius. The struggle therefore arises from Vinicius’s effort to take Lygia by force and Ursus’s role as her defender. In recalling the events, Vinicius places the episode among the actions through which his love had become entangled with wrongdoing.

The Place Revisited

Later, while walking with Lygia in the garden, Vinicius describes how he had tried and failed to forget her, and how the boxwood cross she left behind had kept her in his thoughts. They pass the summer-house covered with ivy and approach the place where Ursus had overcome Croton and thrown himself upon Vinicius. The landscape turns an earlier act of violence into a shared memory that the couple can now discuss.

Aftermath Between Vinicius and Lygia

Vinicius tells Lygia that he would not take revenge on Ursus for defending her; if Ursus had been enslaved, he says, he would have freed him. Lygia asks him not to mention the incident to Ursus and observes that Aulus would have freed Ursus long ago had he been a slave. Her response affirms the protector’s place in her life, while Vinicius’s refusal to retaliate marks a change in how he understands the encounter.

Significance in Vinicius’s Change

The memory is one link in Vinicius’s account of his transformation. He recalls that after Chilo found Lygia’s dwelling and advised him to seize her again, he chose instead to punish Chilo and seek truth from the Apostles. Remembering the place where Ursus saved Lygia—and where Vinicius himself nearly died—sets his former attempt at possession against his later willingness to accept her freedom and recognize the people who protected her.