[1] Racine seems to have chosen the subject in competition with Pierre Corneille, who was working on his drama Tite et Bérénice at the same time.

Suetonius wrote a single sentence on the affair: "Titus reginam Berenicen, cui etiam nuptias pollicitus ferebatur, statim ab Urbe dimisit invitus invitam."

Madly in love with Bérénice, Antiochus plans to flee Rome rather than face her marriage with his friend Titus.

However, Titus has been listening to public opinion about the prospects of his marriage with a foreign queen, and the Romans find this match undesirable.

The tension reaches its climax at the end of the fourth act, when Titus explains his dilemma, and Berenice refuses his decision.