age and brutal disposition: which
character arose from the cruel rites practised by the Cyclopians. According
to [556]Bacchylides it was said, that Galatus, Illyrius, and Celtus were
the sons of Polyphemus. By this was certainly signified, that the Galatae,
Illyrii, and Celtae, were of Cyclopian original, and of the Anakim race; all
equally Amonians. Lycophron mentions the cave of this personage, by which
was meant an antient temple; and he calls it [557][Greek: monoglenou stegas
Charonos]: _the habitation of Charon, a personage with one eye_. But here,
as I have often observed, the place is mistaken for a person; the temple
for the Deity. Charon was the very place; the antient temple of the Sun. It
was therefore styled Char-On from the God, who was there worshipped; and
after the Egyptian custom an eye was engraved over its portal. These
temples were sometimes called Charis, [558][Greek: Charis]; which is a
compound of Char-Is, and signifies a prutaneion, or place sacred to
Hephastus. As the rites of fire were once almost universally practised,
there were many places of this name, especially in [559]Parthia, Babylonia,
and Phrygia. The Grecians rendered Char-Is by [Greek: Charis], a term in
their own language, which signified grace and elegance. And nothing
witnesses their attachment to antient terms more than their continually
introducing them, though they were strangers to their true meaning. The
Arimaspians were Hyperborean Cyclopians; and had temples named Charis, or
Charisia, in the top of which were preserved a perpetual fire. They were of
the same family as those of [560]Sicily, and had the same rites; and
particularly worshipped the Ophite Deity under the name of [561]Opis.
Aristeas Proconnesius wrote their history; and among other things mentioned
that they had but one eye, which was placed in their graceful forehead.

[562][Greek: Ophthalmon d' hen' hekastos echei charienti metopoi.]

How could the front of a Cyclopian, one of the most hideous monsters that
ever poetic fancy framed, be styled graceful? The whole is a mistake of
terms: and what this writer had misapplied, related to Charis, a tower; and
the eye was the casement in the top of the edifice, where a light, and fire
were kept up. What confirmed the mistake was the representation of an eye,
which, as I have mentioned, was often engraved over the entrance of these
temples. The chief Deity of Egypt was frequently represented under the
symbol of an ey