Didymus
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Didymo Proper-name noun: masculine dative singular, Proper-name noun: masculine ablative singular of Didymus
(Δίδυμος).
1. A celebrated Alexandrian grammarian of the time of Cicero and the emperor Augustus. He was a disciple or rather a follower of the school of Aristarchus (Ἀριστάρχειος, Lehrs, de Aristarchi stud. Homer. p. 18, &c.), and is said to have been the son of a dealer in salt fish. He was the teacher of Apion, Heracleides Ponticus, and other eminent men of the time. Works
Didymus is commonly distinguished from other grammarians of the name of Didymus by the surname χαλκέντερος, which he is said to have received from his indefatigable and unwearied application to study. But he also bore the nickname of βιβλιολάθας, for, owing to the multitude of his writings, it is said it often happened to him that he forgot what he had stated, and thus in later productions contradicted what he had said in earlier ones. Such contradictions happen the more easily the more a writer confines himself to the mere business of compiling ; and this seems to have been the case to a very great extent with Didymus, as we may infer from the extraordinary number of his works, even if it were not otherwise attested.
The sum total of his works is stated by Athenaeus (iv. p. 139) to have been 3,500, and by Seneca (Ep. 88) 4000. (Comp. Quint. Inst. 1.9.19.) In this calculation, however, single books or rolls seem to be counted as separate works, or else many of them must have been very small treatises. Criticism and Interpretation of Homer
The most interesting among his productions, all of which are lost, would have been those in which he treated on the Homeric poems, the criticism and interpretation of which formed the most prominent portion of his literary pursuits.
The greater part of what we now possess under the name of the minor Scholia on Homer, which were at one time considered the work of Didymus, is taken from the several works which Didymus wrote upon Homer. Among them was one on the Homeric text as constituted by Aristarchus (περὶ τῆς Ἀριστάρχου διορθώσεως), a work which would be of great importance to us, as he entered into the detail of the criticisms of Aristarchus, and revised and corrected the text which the latter had established. Commentaries on the Dramatic and Lyric Poets
But the studies of Didymus were not confined to Homer, for he wrote also commentaries on many other poets and prose writers of the classical times of Greece. We have mention of works of his on the lyric poets, and especially on Bacchylides (Theophyl. Ep. 8; Ammon. s. v. Νηρεΐδες) and Pindar, and the better and greater part of our scholia on Pindar is taken from the commentary of Didymus. (Böckh, Praef. ad Schol. Pind. p. xvii. &c.) The same is the case with the extant scholia on Sophocles. (Richter, de Aeschyli, Sophoclis, et Euripidis interpretibus Graecis, p. 106, &c.) In the scholia on Aristophanes, too, Didymus is often referred to, and we further know that he wrote commentaries on Euripides, Ion, Phrynichus (Athen. 9.371), Cratinus (Hesych. s. v. Κόρσακις ; Athen. 11.501), Menander (Etymol. Gud. p. 338. 25), and others. Commentaries on the Greek Orators
The Greek orators, Demosthenes, Isaeus, Hyperides, Deinarchus, and others, were likewise commented upon by Didymus. On the phraseology of the Tragic Poets
Besides these numerous commentaries, we have mention of a work on the phraseology of the tragic poets (περὶ τραγῳδουμένης λέξως), of which the 28th book is quoted. (Macr. 5.18 ; Harpocrat. s. v. ξηραλοιφεῖν.) A similar work (λέξις κωμική) was written by him on the phraseology of the comic poets, and Hesychius made great use of it, as he himself attests in the epistle to Eulogius. (Comp. Etymol. M. p. 492. 53 ; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. 1.1139, 4.1058.) A third work of the same class was on words of ambiguous or uncertain meaning, and consisted of at least seven books; and a fourth treated on false or corrupt expressions. Collection of Greek Proverbs
He further published a collection of Greek proverbs, in thirteen books (πρὸς τοὺς περὶ παροιμιῶν συντεταχότας), from which is taken the greater part of the proverbs contained in the collection of Zenobius. (Schneidewin, Corpus Paroemiogr. Graec. i. p. xiv.)
A work on the laws of Solon is mentioned by Plutarch (Plut. Sol. 1) under the title περὶ τῶν ἀξόνων Σόλωνος. Work on Roman Literature
Didymus appears to have been acquainted even with Roman literature, for he wrote a work in six books against Cicero's treatise " de Re Publica," (Ammian. Marcell. 22.16), which afterwards induced Suetonius to write against Didymus. (Suid. s. v. Τραγκύλλος.) Didymus stands at the close of the period in which a comprehensive and independent study of Greek literature prevailed, and he himself must be regarded as the father of the scholiasts who were satisfied with compiling or abridging the works of their predecessors. Extracts in the Geoponica
In the collection of the Geoponica there are various extracts bearing the name of Didymus, from which it might be inferred that he wrote on agriculture or botany; but it is altogether uncertain whether those extracts belong to our Alexandrian grammarian, or to some other writer of the same name. Didymus the Naturalist vs. Didymus the Grammarian
It is very probable that, with Suidas, we ought to distinguish from our grammarian a naturalist Didymus. Works
The naturalist Didymus possibly may be the same as the one who wrote a commentary on Hippocrates, and a treatise on stones and different kinds of wood (περὶ μαρμάρων καὶ παντοίων ξύλων). Editions
The treatise on stones and different kinds of wood treatise has been edited by A. Mai as an appendix to the fragments of the Iliad. (Milan, 1819, fol.) Further Information
See Gräfenhan, Gesch. der Klass. Philol. im Alterthum, i. p. 405, &c.
2. An Alexandrian grammarian, commonly called the younger (ὁ νέος) : he taught at Rome, and wrote, according to Suidas (s. v. Δίδυμος), πιθανά, περὶ ὀρθογραφίας, and many other excellent works. In a preceding article, however, Suidas attributes the πιθανὰ (πιθανῶν καὶ σοφισμάτων λύσεις) in two books to one Didymus Areius, an Academic philosopher, who lived at Rome in the time of Nero. (Comp. Euseb. Praep. Evang. 11.23; Eudoc. p. 135.)
3. With the praenomen Claudius, a Greek grammarian, who, according to Suidas (s. v. Δίδυμος), wrote upon the mistakes committed by Thucydides against analogy, and a work on Analogy among the Romans. He further made an epitome of the works of Heracleon, and some other works. A fragment of his epitome is preserved in Stobaeus. (Serm. 101; comp. Lersch, Die Sprachphilos. der Alten, pp. 74, 143, &c.)
4. Of Alexandria, lived in the fourth century of the Christian era, and must be distinguished from Didymus the monk, who is spoken of by Socrates. (Hist. Eccles. 4.33.) At the age of four years, and before he had learnt to read, he became blind; but this calamity created in him an invincible thirst after knowledge, and by intense application he succeeded in becoming not only a distinguished grammarian, rhetorician, dialectician, mathematician, musician, astronomer, and philosopher (Socrat. 4.25; Sozom. 3.15; Rufin. 11.7; Theodoret. 4.29; Nicephor. 9.17), but also in acquiring a most extensive knowledge of sacred literature. He devoted himself to the service of the church, and was no less distinguished for the exemplary purity of his conduct than for his learning and acquirements. In A. D. 392, when Hieronymus wrote his work on illustrious ecclesiastical authors, Didymns was still alive, and professor of theology at Alexandria. He died in A. D. 396 at the age of eighty-five. As professor of theology he was at the head of the school of the Catechumeni, and the most distinguished personages of that period, such as Hieronymus, Rufinus, Palladius, Ambrosius, Evagrius, and Isidorus, are mentioned among his pupils. Works
Didymus was the author of a great number of theological works, but most of them are lost. The following are still extant :-- 1. Liber de Spiritu Sancto.
The Greek original is lost, but we possess a Latin translation made by Hieronymus, about A. D. 386, which is printed among the works of Hieronymus. Although the author as well as the translator intended it to be one book (Hieronym. Catal. 109), yet Marcianaeus in his edition of Hieronymus has divided it into three books. The work is mentioned by St. Augustin (Quaest. in Exod. 2.25), and Nicephorus (9.17). Editions
Separate editions of it were published at Cologne, 1531, 8vo., and a better one by Fuchte, Helmstädt, 1614, 8vo. 2. Breves Enarrationes in Epistolas Canonicas.
This work is likewise extant only in a Latin translation, and was first printed in the Cologne edition of the first work. It is contained also in all the collections of the works of the fathers. The Latin translation is the work of Epiphanius, and was made at the request of Cassiodorus. (Cassiod. de Institut. Divin. 8.) 3. Liber adversus Manichaeos.
This work appears to be incomplete, since Damascenus (Parallel. p. 507) quotes a passage from it which is now not to be found in it. Editions Latin Edition
It was first printed in a Latin version by F. Turrianus in Possevin's Apparatus Sanct. ad Calc. Lit. D., Venice, 1603, and at Cologne in 1608. Greek Edition
It was reprinted in some of the Collections of the Fathers, until at last Combefisius in his " Auctarium novissimum" (ii. p. 21, &c.) published the Greek original. (Paris, 1672, fol.) 4. Περὶ Τριάδος. Latin Edition
This work was formerly believed to be lost, but J. A. Mingarelli discovered a MS. of it, and published it with a Latin version at Bologna, 1769, fol. Lost works
A list of the lost works of Didymus is given by Fabric. Bibl. Graec. ix. p. 273, &c.; Further Information
Compare Cave, Hist. Lit. i. p. 205 ; Guericke, de Schola Alexandr. ii. p. 332, &c. [L.S]
(Δίδυμος), a Greek medical writer who lived perhaps in the third century after Christ, as he is quoted by Aetius (tetrab. ii. serm. 2.100.15, p. 256) and Alexander Trallianus (De Med. 7.13, p. 235), by whom he is called σοφώτατος. He may perhaps be the native of Alexandria who is mentioned by Suidas as having written fifteen books on Agriculture, and who is frequently quoted in the collection of writers called Geoponici (lib. i. 100.5, 2.3, 14, 17, 26, &c., ed. Niclas.). His writings would seem to have been extant in the seventeenth century, or at least they were supposed to be so, as Salmasius expected to receive a MS. of his work de Plantis from Italy. (Life prefi ed to his Letters, p. 39.) [W.A.G]
(Δίδυμος). A famous grammarian, the son of a seller of fish at Alexandria, who was born in the consulship of Antonius and Cicero, B.C. 63, and flourished in the reign of Augustus. Macrobius calls him the greatest grammarian of his own or any other time (Saturn. v. 18, 9). According to Athenaeus (iv. 139), he published 3500 volumes, and had written so much that he was called “the forgetter of books” (βιβλιολάθας), for he often himself forgot what he had written; and also “the man with brazen bowels” (χαλκέντερος), from his unwearied industry. He wrote, among other things, commentaries on Hesiod, Homer, Pindar, Bacchylides, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Cratinus, Eupolis, Aristophanes, Menander, Antiphon, Isaeus , Hyperides, Aeschines, Demosthenes, and Thucydides; on Ion; and also on the plays of Phrynichus; several treatises against Iuba, king of Mauretania; a book on the corruption of style; and a great number of historical and antiquarian treatises. The most important production of Didymus was his very learned treatise on the edition of Homer by Aristarchus (q.v.), parts of which are preserved in the Venetian scholia on Homer. His lexical works, in fact, were the source of innumerable lexica, scholia, etc. The collection of proverbs extant under the name of Zenobius was partly taken from a previous collection made by Didymus. The fragments of Didymus may be found in the collection by M. Schmidt (Leipzig, 1854). See the account of Didymus in Wilamowitz, Eurip. Heracles, i. 157-168; and Susemihl, Geschichte d. griech. Lit. ii. 195-210, 688 foll. (1892). See Didascalia; Scholium.