Brilliance, literary perfection and great diversity mark the tales of the later Hasidic masters. The mystical religious enthusiasm which swept Eastern Europe in the 18th century expresses itself in stories and epigrams by and about the masters of the movement. For in Hasidism the mystical illumination never remains the private and solitary experience of the mystic. He is the leader and center of the community. The religious personality of this leader, or Zaddik, forms and guides the lives of his Hasidim. He is both man and symbol. Later, as the personalities of the Zaddikim diverged, new and varying spiritual strains flowed from them. As the government grew and spread, problems of inner structure arose. Thus these later tales are more often concerned with problems of everyday life, but always they surge with the ethical and mystical passion which is at the heart of Hasidism.