SOURCE: "French Tragicomedy from Gamier to Corneille," in Tragicomedy: Its Origin and Development in Italy, France, and England, University of Illinois Press, 1955, pp. 172–214.

In the following excerpt, Herrick examines several tragicomedies by mid-seventeenth-century dramatists Pierre Du Ryer and Jean de Rotrou.

[Pierre Du Ryer's] best tragedy, and the most famous of all his plays, is Scevole (1647), which is actually a tragedy with a happy ending.

Du Ryer found the plot of Scevole in Roman history (Livy) and added a love intrigue. The Etruscan king Porsenne (Lars Porsinna), an ally of the deposed Tarquin, has defeated the Romans and begun the siege of Rome. A captive Roman maiden, Junie (Cloelia), is brought before Porsenne for questioning. Du Ryer made Junie the heroine of the play and the lover of the Roman hero Scevole (Gaius Mucius, called Scaevola or "Left-Handed"). Junie has given up Scevole as dead, but now hears...