Enjoying listening to the recent radio version of Marlowe’s Dr Faustus: BBC Radio 3 – Drama on 3, Doctor Faustus. Many of us will remember the lines about kissing Helen and being made immortal etc, but I was struck by this in the first scene – when he is having a bit of angst about where to direct his studies:

‘Both law and physic are for petty wits’

and this

‘This study [i.e. Law] fits a mercenary drudge who aims at nothing but external trash; Too servile and illiberal for me.‘

Not ones anyone is likely to use in their student recruitment material! Still, granted that he would have been better off sticking with Justinian and problems about succession, maybe it could be used in a sophisticated campaign saying ‘Study Law: it’s better than getting involved in a dodgy deal with the devil and ending up eternally damned …’ [I have missed my vocation in marketing, haven’t I?]

(Image, C. Marlowe, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Check out that fancy doublet!).