“When Pandora was ready, she was taken by Hermes to Epimetheus as a gift from Zeus.Epimetheus looked at the beautiful girl & asked her to remove her veil so that he could better admire her lovely face & he asked her to remove her girdle & white shimmering raiment so that he could appreciate the gifts of the Gods. As he had never seen a woman before. And Pandora grinned & put on an impish smile as she stood naked before him.”

“But as the God of War, Mars could not help being belligerent.He announced that he had come to avenge the honour & dignity of his brother,Hephaestus, & was glad that she had accepted his invitation to do battle.He now challenged her to remove her girdle since he had heard that it was a magic girdle & would thus afford the wearer undue advantage, as he would now remove all his battle attire so that, as their wearer, he too would not enjoy any undue advantage. And so saying, the belligerent Mars doffed his warlike raiment & stood proud & naked before her. And, thus provoked,Venus took off her girdle & did likewise.”

“And Pandora pointed out to Epimetheus that he neither had wings nor wheels & so he should therefore not expect that of her also.And that besides,she had also brought with her a jar containing 10,000 gifts from Zeus for the blunder he had made in distributing to the beasts all the abilities that should have been given to men.And thus, he should be satisfied with whatever he had been given.As she, Pandora, had spoken.”

“He loved her for being so beautiful, and he hated her for it. He loved how she put shiny stuff on her lips for him, and he also reviled her for it. He wanted her to walk home alone, and he wanted to run after her and grab her up before she could take another step.”

“It was simply a matter of asking him to remove the tie from his head before he made love to her.”

“And then there was her face: her white skin, her brown eyes, and her expression, so soft and beautiful; she looked as though she were constantly getting ready to ask a question. Even an immaculately crafted doll could not have been as lovely.”