PROLOGUE.
Reading edition
Enter Chorus.[2]
Chor. Two households, both alike in dignity,[3] In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,[3] From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,[3] Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.[3] From forth the fatal loins of these two foes[3] 5 A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;[3] Whose misadventured piteous overthrows[3] Do with their death bury their parents' strife.[3][4] The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,[3] And the continuance of their parents' rage,[3] 10 Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,[3] Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;[3] The which if you with patient ears attend,[3] What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.[3][5]