of the sublime, though they are not always confined to Probability. Romances have more of Probability, though they don't advance so far toward the Sublime.Poems are more regular and correct in the Frame of their Contrivance, and receive less Addition from Events and Episodes than Romances, which are capable of these Accessions, because their Style is not so elevated, and they don't so far di|<8>sten'd the Intellect, so that they give it leave to admit a greater Number of different Ideas. In short, Poems make some Military Act, or Politick Conduct, their Theme, and only descant upon Love at Pleasure; whereas Romances, on the contrary, have Love for their Principal Subject, and don't concern themselves in War or Politicks, but by Accident. I speak of Regular Romances, for those in Old French, Spanish, and Italian, have generally more of the Soldier than Gallant. [p.7-8] The differences between histories and romances are connected with the fictional status—a problem is here caused by histories full of erroneous notions: These Works are true in the Main, and false in some Parts. Romances, on the contrary, are false in the Gross, and true in some Particulars. [...|<10>] I mean, that Falsehood is so predominant in Romance, that it may be altogether False in Whole and every Particular. [p.10] Huet excludes Histories if the authors wanted to give rue accounts and just failed and he excludes "fables": [...] for Romance is a Fiction of Things which may, but never have happen'd; whereas the Matter of Fables is what never has, nor ever will be perform'd. [p.13] An Ancient Practice: Religions Use Fictions to Create Secret Knowledge The following part of the treatise touches the origin of "romances". The peoples of Asia, especially those of Egypt had, so Huet claims, proven a tendency to decipher all kinds of information. The hieroglyphs prove that. Their whole religion and all their histories were deciphered, mostly to exclude the population from further knowledge. Initiations were afforded before one would gain access to the secret cultural knowledge Egypt stored. The Greeks |<p. 17> had been extremely eager to learn from Egypt: 'Twas without doubt from these Priests, that Pythagoras and Plato, in their Voyage to Ægypt, learned to Transform their Philosophy, and hide it under the Shadow of Mystery and Disguise. [p.17] The Arabs exploited the same cultural knowledge—their Koran is, so Huet says filled with knowledge one cannot understand