Portia:

The crow doth sing as sweetly as the lark

When neither is attended; and I think

The nightingale, if she should sing by day,

When every goose is cackling, would be thought

No better a musician than the wren.

How many things by season seasoned are

To their right praise and true perfection!

Peace, ho! The moon sleeps with Endymion

And would not be awaked.

Endymion was a young prince that fell asleep in a grott after hunting on Mount Latmus. Selene, the goddess of the moon, was captivated by the prince's beauty and kissed him while he slept. Endymion asked Zeus for immortaility and eternal youth which he recieved on the condition that he remain eternally asleep. Selene visited Endymion every night to contemplate her sleeping lover which is why "the rays of the amorous moon come to caress the sleep of mortals (Larousse.) He is also have said to be expelled by Olympus by Zeus for attempting to seduce Zeus's wife Hera.

Portia uses the reference to Endymion and Selene after she gives her little speech about how when no one is around to hear, a crow, nightengale, goose, and lark all sing just as sweetly. She uses the reference to tell the musicians to cease their playing as to not "awaken the moon and Endymion."

Sources:

Pinsent, John. Greek mythology. Peter Bedrick Books: New York, 1969. 60.

New Larousse Encylopedia of Mythology. The Hamlyn Publishing Group: London, 1959. 193.

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