The audience is told the feud is ancient, the adjective has connotations with something old,sacred and untouched. It is then juxtaposed by the ‘new mutiny’ which means that there is new violence which foreshadows the intensity that the young lovers bring. This quote also links to fate as the Elizabethan era believed in fate and determinism therefore the use of this quote in the prologue depicts how the lovers are destined to bring about change from the use of the verb “break”