  Since artistic imitations are intended to arouse emotions similar to those aroused by the objects imitated, Du Bos values what he calls vraisemblance (verisimilitude). Painters, for example, must “make a painting consistent with what we know of the customs, habits, architecture, and arms of the people that one intends to represent” (1.30). A work can, however, be vraisemblable without being an imitation of the real world and historical events. A work can be vraisemblable and yet be an example of what Du Bos calls “the marvelous”. An opera, for example, can be vraisemblable even though it depicts marvelous ancient Greek gods and goddesses. It must, however, depict them as existing in a way that gods and goddesses can exist. Vraisemblance is not an end in itself as it was for some earlier thinkers. The real goal of the arts is to arouse sentiments and vraisemblance is only a means of doing so.