From A Very Pleasaunt & Fruitful Diologe Called the Epicure by Desiderius Erasmus

Neuerthelesse, these thynges haue a certayne payne and griefe. HEDO. Thei haue, but on the onesyde, what for fear of hel, and the other for hoope of euerlastynge ioye, the payne is sone past and forgottê Now tell me if you knewe that || you myghte neuer bee sycke, or elles that you shoulde feele no payne of your body in your life tyme, if you woulde but ones suffer your vtter skinne too bee prycked with a pynnes puinct, would you not gladly and with all your very heart suffer then so lytle a payne as that is? SPV Verye gladlye, yea, rather if I knewe perfectlye that my teeth would neuer ake, I would willynglye suffer too bee prycked depe with a nedle, and too haue both mine eares bored through with a bodkin. HEDO. Surely what payne soeuer happeneth in this lyfe, it is lesse and shorter, compared with the eternall paines, then is the soden pricke of a needle, incomparisõ of the ||E.iii.|| lyfe of man though it bee neuer so long, for there is no conuenience or proportion of the thyng that hath ende, and that whych is infinite. SPV. You speake very truly. HEDO. Now if a man coulde fully perswade you, that you should neuer feele payne in al your life, if you did but ones deuide the flame of ye fyre, with your hande, whyche thyng vndoughtely Pithagoras forbade, woulde you not gladlye doo it? SPV. Yea, on that condicion I had liefer doo it an hundred times, if I knew precisely the promiser would kepe touch. HE. It is playne God cannot deceaue. But now that feelyng of paine in the fyre is longer vnto the whole lyfe of man, then is the ||lyfe of mã, in respect of the heauenlye ioye, althoughe it were thrise so long as ye yeares of Nestor, for that casting of the hand in the fyre thoughe it bee neuer so shorte, yet it is some parte of hys lyfe, but the whole lyfe of man is noo portion of tyme in respect of the eternal lyfe. SPV. I haue nothyng too saye against you.

Spv Monologue from A Very Pleasaunt & Fruitful Diologe Called the Epicure

Rehearse Spv's monologue