Author
Miron Costin
2 reading cards from 1 book · 1687.
2 cards
De neamul moldovenilor · 1687
Writing history can be an act of dignity: knowing your roots builds a people's identity.
Costin justifies his historical work with patriotic and scholarly motives: he wants to dispel ignorance about his people. 'Labour' hints at the immense effort of gathering documents and traditions. He aims to prove Moldavians are not a people without history, but descendants of Romans — a revolutionary idea in the 17th century.
“The thought won me over to take up this labour: to set before the world the kind of this people, from what spring and stock the inhabitants of our country come.”
De neamul moldovenilor · 1687
Human worth is not the monopoly of any one region, but can arise anywhere.
This short phrase is a retort to those who saw Moldavia as an inferior province. Costin asserts equality of human potential: talents and virtues are not a monopoly of great empires. For instance, he himself, as a boyar and scholar, proves Moldavia can produce men of culture and intellectual stature.
“Men are born in Moldavia too.”