“She was the devil, listen to me.”
“She may have been,” I replied, “but if that is so, then the devil, it seems, leads to the good.”
“At first it seems to be good, to catch one, but later one sees where it leads one.”
“How do you know all this?”
“That’s not your business,” replied the old man, “that’s another story!”
Alexandru Lapushneanu
1564–1569
By C. Negruzzi
Jacob Eraclid, surnamed the “Despot,” perished by the hand of Shtefan Tomsha, who then proceeded to govern the land, but Alexandru Lapushneanu, after two successive defeats at the hands of the tyrant’s forces, fled to Constantinople, succeeded in securing aid from the Turkish army, and returned to drive out the rapacious Tomsha, and seize for himself the throne which he never would have lost had the boyars not betrayed him. He entered Moldavia accompanied by seven thousand spahees and three thousand mixed troops. He also brought with him imperial orders for Han Tatar Nogai to collect some troops with which to come to his aid.
Lapushneanu rode with Vornic Bogdan by his side, both were mounted upon Turkish stallions, and were armed from head to foot.