free; for a sigh that might relieve her marble breast; and for a word to escape her sealed lips. "It is but a brief word that I would utter to ye, oh mankind, world, nature, universe! If on earth there is right, and in heaven mercy, look upon me and my agony."
Vörösmarty was a master not only of passionate and pathetic poetry, but also of the reflective epigram. His distiches, the form he used in his epigrams, are melodious, Hungarian being one of the few languages which are equally suitable for modern metres based upon accent and the ancient metres based on quantity. One of his reflective poems is entitled Thoughts in a Library. He begins by contrasting the subjects treated of in books with the material upon which they are printed. The paper was made of rags. On one page is written the praise of virtue, yet the paper itself may have been part of the garment of a murderer. Another book treats of innocence and purity, yet its pages may have robed the impure. Perhaps the book of laws was once the mantle of a tyrant or of an unjust judge. Then he goes on to ask whether on the whole books have been a blessing to man kind. It may be that they have widened the gulf between the cultured and uncultured, yet we must not undervalue them, for they pave the way to man's dignity. "What is our task in life?" he asks at the end of the poem, where human feeling is blended with patriotic feeling. "To strive with all our strength for the noblest aims. The fate of a nation lies in our bands. When we have lifted this country out of its errors and misfortunes, we shall be able to say, as our eyes close in death, 'We thank thee, life, for all the grand opportunities of work which thou hast given us, and which have enabled us to play our part here manfully.'"
