THOAS

I yield no higher honor or regard
To the king’s daughter than the maid unknown;
Once more my first proposal I repeat;
Come follow me, and share what I possess.

IPHIGENIA

How dare I venture such a step, O king? 
Hath not the goddess who protected me
Alone a right to my devoted head? 
’Twas she who chose for me this sanctuary,
Where she perchance reserves me for my sire,
By my apparent death enough chastis’d. 
To be the joy and solace of his age. 
Perchance my glad return is near; and how,
If I, unmindful of her purposes,
Had here attach’d myself against her will? 
I ask’d a signal, did she wish my stay.

THOAS

The signal is that still thou tarriest here. 
Seek not evasively such vain pretexts. 
Not many words are needed to refuse,
The no alone is heard by the refused.

IPHIGENIA

Mine are not words meant only to deceive;
I have to thee my inmost heart reveal’d. 
And doth no inward voice suggest to thee,
How I with yearning soul must pine to see
My father, mother, and my long-lost home? 
Oh let thy vessels bear me thither, king? 
That in the ancient halls, where sorrow still
In accents low doth fondly breathe my name,
Joy, as in welcome of a new-born child,
May round the columns twine the fairest wreath. 
New life thou wouldst to me and mine impart.

THOAS

Then go!  Obey the promptings of thy heart;
And to the voice of reason and good counsel,
Close thou thine ear.  Be quite the woman, give
To every wish the rein, that brideless
May seize on thee, and whirl thee here and there. 
When burns the fire of passion in her breast,
No sacred tie withholds her from the wretch
Who would allure her to forsake for him
A husband’s or a father’s guardian arms;
Extinct within her heart its fiery glow,
The golden tongue of eloquence in vain
With words of truth and power assails her ear.

IPHIGENIA

Remember now, O king, thy noble words! 
My trust and candor wilt thou thus repay? 
Thou seem’st, methinks, prepar’d to hear the truth.

THOAS

For this unlook’d-for answer not prepar’d. 
Yet ’twas to be expected; knew I not
That with a woman I had now to deal?

IPHIGENIA

Upbraid not thus, O king, our feeble sex! 
Though not in dignity to match with yours,
The weapons woman wields are not ignoble. 
And trust me, Thoas, in thy happiness
I have a deeper insight than thyself. 
Thou thinkest, ignorant alike of both,
A closer union would augment our bliss;
Inspir’d with confidence and honest zeal
Thou strongly urgest me to yield consent;
And here I thank the gods, who give me strength
To shun a doom unratified by them.