Complex sentence: These rules precluded many elements common in the baroque tragi-comedy: flying horses, chivalric battles, magical trips to foreign lands and the "deus ex machina"; the mauling of Hippolyte by a monster in Phèdre could only take place offstage.
Split into simpler sentences: These rules precluded many elements common in the baroque "tragi-comedy": flying horses, chivalric battles, magical trips to foreign lands and the "deus ex machina". The mauling of Hippolyte by a monster in Phèdre could only take place offstage.