After the death of the Emperor of Rome, his two sons, Saturninus and Bassianus, ask the masses to determine who should succeed to the throne. The first invokes his natural rights as the first-born son, the second calls upon his virtue and graciousness. They are silenced by the Tribune of the People, Marcus Andronicus, who announces that the people of Rome have elected to the throne Titus Andronicus, a great general who has spent the last ten years and lost twenty-one sons vanquishing Rome 's enemies. Titus enters to great fanfare, trailed by four living sons and two in coffins; he brings with him the captives Tamora, Queen of the Goths, her three sons, and Aaron the Moore. Despite a desperate plea from Tamora, Titus orders, following Roman custom, that Tamora's oldest son be ritually sacrificed in exchange for Titus's own dead offspring.
