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Have° they returned? {Are}

—Lorenzo Madam, they are not yet.
But there has come a messenger, before,
To tell of their arrival.° {to signify their coming}

—Portia Go, Nerissa,
Give order to my servants to say nothing,
To take no note° of our being absent hence,° 48 / To speak no word // our recent absence
Nor you Lorenzo—Jessica, nor you.

A tucket sounds 49

—Lorenzo
Your husband is at hand, I hear his trumpet.
50
Fear not, madam, we will not say a thing.° / our hearts and mouths are sealed

The cloud passes and the moon shines again

—Portia
This night methinks is but the daylight sick.° / a sickly day
It looks a little paler, like a day
51 52
Wherein the sun is hidden° by a cloud. / darkened

Enter Bassanio, Antonio, Gratziano, and their followers

—Bassanio [overhearing Portia]
Our night would share the day with all who tread° / walk / stand / live
53
Upon the other side of the planet

we hope, the better for our words: whose success, we hope, has been supported by our prayers
47. / We have been praying for our husbands’ welfare | And hope they prosper the more by our words.
/ We have been praying for our husbands’ welfare | That they have quick and prosperous results | Which, we
do hope, has been aided° by our words. / bettered / helped
48. {Give order to my servants that they take | No note at all of our being absent hence}
49. A tucket is a distinctive ‘signature tune’ played on a trumpet to announce the arrival of those of high or royal
standing. The tucket we hear is to signify the arrival of Bassanio. It is not likely that any of the parties have yet
heard this tucket but, by inference, and by knowing of Bassanio’s immanent arrival, they surmise that it is Bassanio’s
tucket.
50. {We are no tell-tales, madam, fear you not}
51. {‘Tis a day | Such as the day is when the sun is hed}.
52. It is telling that after hearing Bassanio’s tucket the only words Portia states—which serve as her announcement
of him—is a reference to the night, which looks like daylight sick, as pale as a day when the sun is hid. Perhaps the
metaphor is in reference to herself, as the sun, and to her own shining, which (upon her new master’s return) will be
obscured, like a dull cloud obscuring the bright sun. (In the next line, Bassanio unwittingly extends this analogy by
likening Portia to the sun).
One could interpret Portia’s ‘talk about the weather’ in a more innocuous way: she abruptly changes the
subject to talk about something banal, chit-chat as it were, as a way to hide her expectancy and appear somewhat coy
and nonchalant about Bassanio’s immanent arrival. [See Additional Notes, 5.1.126]
53. {We should hold day with the Antipodes}
Antipodes: (lit. ‘opposite feet’); those who walk on the opposite side of the globe.