Scene 1: Since Diana saved her from death (her father Agamemnon chose to sacrifice her in return for a favourable wind for Troy), Iphigenia has been serving as her priestess on Tauris. Although she is grateful to the goddess, and although she is held in high regard by King Thoas and his people, she longs more and more to return to her homeland. "And days together stand I on the shore, / seeking, in my soul, the land of Greece .."She laments her life as a woman in a foreign land, recognising that her normal fate would have been to be tied to a husband. "Woman's fate is lamentable ... / how narrow the limits to her happiness!"She begs Diana to reunite her with her family: "And rescue me, you who rescued me from death, / from this, the second death that I am living here."Scene 2: Arkas, the confidant of Thoas, King of Tauris, announces the King's arrival. Iphigenia admits her homesickness to him. Arkas reminds her of all the good she has done in Tauris, for example, ending the custom of sacrificing all strangers on Diana's altar. He explains that the King is coming to ask for her hand, and he advises her to accept. Iphigenia declines: marriage would tie her to Tauris for ever.Scene 3: Thoas makes his suit. Iphigenia justifies her refusal by her longing for Greece, and does her best to add other sound reasons, such as the curse that lies on her family, which condemns all the descendants of Tantalus to kill each other. She gives several examples. Thoas is not dissuaded, but Iphigenia now calls on Diana: "Has not the goddess, who rescued me, / and she alone, the right to my dedicated life?"Thoas threatens to reintroduce the old custom of human sacrifice, which she would be obliged to carry out, rather than allow her to leave.Scene 4: Iphigenia prays to Diana: she places her faith in the goodness and justice of the Gods, and she begs her to spare her from having to sacrifice innocent victims.
