DICTYS CRETEUS, one of the early historians from whom the later Roman grammarians imagined that Homer derived materials for the Iliad and Odyssey. He is said to have followed Idomeneus, king of Crete, in the Trojan war; and the MS. of his work, written in Phœnician characters, was found in his tomb at Gnosus in the reign of Nero, and translated into Greek by order of that prince. A Latin version of the first five books has alone come down to us; but this work is generally regarded as a forgery. The best editions are those of Perizonius and Dederich.
DIDACTIC (διδασκτικός, to teach), signifies the manner of speaking or writing adapted to teach or explain the nature of things.
There are many words which are only used in the didactic and dogmatic way; and there are also many works, ancient and modern, both in prose and verse, written after this method; such as the Georgics of Virgil, Lucretius's poem De Rerum Natura, Pope's Essays on Criticism and on Man, &c.