Berenice

Titus, emperor of Rome, loves Berenice, queen of Palestine, with a passion that threatens to undo him. But love between a Roman emperor and a foreign queen is a political impossibility: Rome will not accept her, and the empire's stability hangs in the balance. Berenice must choose between waiting in exile for a man who cannot come to her, or departing with whatever remains of her dignity intact. Antiochus, Berenice's devoted friend and king of Commagene, watches his own love go unrecognized as he helps orchestrate the very sacrifice that will break everyone's heart. Unlike most of Racine's tragedies, no one dies here. That may be the cruelest twist of all. What remains is not death, but the long, quiet devastation of choosing duty over desire, and living with the consequence.