CAPULETS AND MONTAGUES, the English forms of the Italian names Capelletti and Montecchi, made familiar through Shakespeare's tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. They represent two legendary noble families of Verona in the 14th century whose enmity rendered tragical the loves of their two children. The legend, which may have been of Eastern origin, finds a parallel in Ovid's story of Pyramus and Thisbe. Dante mentions the two lovers in his Purgatorio ; Shakespeare seems to have owed his version to Arthur Broke (q.v.).