In the nineteenth century patriotism was further fostered among this people by the stirring epics of Czuczor, Petoefi (whose masterpiece is Janes Vilez), and of Voeroesmarty, and then, too, were compiled the first collections of genuine Hungarian folk-tales.

Among these the adventures of the national Samson (Toldi) have served as basis for Arany's modern national epic in twelve cantos.
Part of Poland being incorporated in the Austro-Hungarian empire, it cannot be amiss to mention here the fact that its literature is particularly rich in folk-tales, animal epics, apologues, religious legends, and hero tales, although none of the poetical versions of these works seem to be of sufficient weight or importance to require detailed treatment in this volume.
With the exception of ancient Greece,--whose epic literature is so rich and still exerts such an influence as to demand separate treatment,--there do not seem to be any epics of great literary value among the various races now occupying the Balkan Peninsula.

Old Rumanian literature, written in the Slavic tongue, boasts a few rhymed chronicles which are sometimes termed epics, while modern Rumanian prides itself upon Joan Delaemi's locally famous Epic of the Gypsies.
In Servia one discovers ancient epic songs celebrating the great feats of national heroes and heroines, and relating particularly to the country's prolonged struggle for independence.

After translating the main works of Tasso from the Italian for the benefit of his countrymen, one of their poets--Gundulitch--composed a twenty-canto epic entitled Osman, wherein he described the war between the Poles and Turks in 1621.

The Servian dramatist Palmotitch later composed the Christiad, or life of Christ, and in the nineteenth century Milutinovitch wrote a Servian epic, while Mazuranie and Bogovitch penned similar poems in Croatian.