DIDYMUS, a celebrated grammarian of the Augustan age. He was the son of a seller of fish at Alexandria, and was born about B.C. 64. He was a disciple of Aristarchus, and in his literary labours he followed strictly the critical principles of his master. Athenæus computes the works of Didymus at 3500, and Seneca at 4000. The names of χαλκότερος (brazen-bowelled), and βιβλαλάβας (forgetter of his own
books), by which he was distinguished amongst his contemporaries, sufficiently indicate his perseverance, and the voluminous character of his writings. His principal works seem to have been his scholia on Homer, Aristophanes, Pindar, Sophocles, Euripides, and several of the Greek orators. It is probable that many of the comments of the later scholiasts were borrowed from him. He is said also to have written against Cicero's Republic. The collection of Greek proverbs, and the fragments of the books on agriculture, which bear his name, are at least only in part genuine.