DIDIER
191 DIDTMUS OF ALEXANDRIA
s. Soul WMB absorbed in body ; the inner world in outer — a tendency fostered by physics. It was the w of tbin^ taken by the scientific mind, and lacks poetical and feeling elements of nature— a trae « of the cold and mechanical age which produced Diderot's atheism is a still further development lis un belie! It is expressed in few of his writings, 1 presents no subject of interest to us, save that it ks to invalidate the arguments for the being of a d, drawn f^om final causes. It has been well ob- ved that the lesson to be derived from him is that t mechanical view of the world is essentially athe- ic ; that whosoever will admit no means discovering God but common logic, can- t find him. Diderot's unbelief may be isidered to embody that which resulted •m the abuse at once of erudition, pbysi- L science, an4»the sensational theory in )taph78ics" (Farrar, Critical Hidory of te Thought^ lect. v). A collection of his incipal works was published by his disci> B Naigeon, in 15 vols. 8vo, 1798, and re- lated since in 22 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1821, ith a life of the author by Naigeon him- If, which, however, is rather a dissertation L Diderot's writings and opinions than a al biography. Supplementary to the above edition ^ Diderot's works are Corretpondance phiht. et critique \ Grimm ei IHderot (Patib, 1829, in 15 vols.), and the lemoiresy Correspandemce, et Owroffes inedUs de Dide- rt (Paris, 1830, 4 vols). See also Rosenkranz, Dide- iC» Leben und Werke (1866, 2 vols.) ; Carlyle, Miscel. Vorka, vol. iv ; Rich, Dictionary of Biography ; Engl, ^gclopaedia; Vinet, French Literature; Hoefer, Nouv. Hog. Genirdky xiv, 80 sq.
Didier, or G^ry (in Latin Desidbrius), bishop f Cahors, was bom at Albi in 595. He was of a no- lo family in Aqultania, and was educated at the court tf king Clotaire II, who appointed him treasurer of the rown. Dagobert, the son and successor of Clotaire, ;ave to Didier, in addition to his office of treasurer, hat of governor of Marseilles. In 629, when his >rother Rusticus, bishop of Cahors, was assassinated, Didier was chosen his successor. A^s bishop he became rery rich, and made himself popular by a judicious ise of hia wealth. Didier is a popular saint in South- ern France under the name of 66ry. His works have been lost ; only sixteen epiitles^ addressed to prominent persons of hia time, as the kings Dagobert and Sige- bert III, are still extant. These epistles have been published by Canisius {Antiques Lectionesy tom. v), in Mlgne, Patrologia Lot. vol. Ixxxvii, and by Bouquet, Collection dee Historient de France^ tom. iv. — Hoefer, Biog. Ginerale, xiv, 102.
Didier, St., archbishop of Yienne, was bom at Au- tun, and became bishop of Yienne in 596. As he gave instruction in belles-lettres and ancient literature, he was denounced to Gregory the Qreat as teaching his pupils pagan literature. Didier found it easy to jus- tify himself; but, having reproved queen Brnnehild for her conduct, this princess convoked a synod at Cha- lons sur Saone and in 608 Didier was deposed and exiled to an island in the river Rhone. Four years after he was restored to his see, but as he did not cease to censure the queen, and as he endeavored to with- draw the young king Thierry from the influence of his grandmother, Branehild had him waylaid and as- sassinated in a village called Prisciniacum, on the bank of the Chalarone (subsequently called St. Didier de Chalarone), on May 28, 608. On Feb. 11, 1620, the hody of Didier was transfierred to St. Peter and Paul's church at Yienne. Several other churches claim to possess some relics of Didier, who is commemorated by the Church of Rome as a saint on Feb. 11 and May 23. Lives of Didier have been published by Mom- brice and Chifflet,— Hoefer, Biog. GSn^ale, xiv, 101.
Didrachm (Greek HSpax/iovy Lat. didrachma^-a double drachma^ *' tribute," Matt xvii, 24), a silver coin equal to two Attic drachma, and also to the Jewish half shekel (Joseph. Awt, iii, 8, 2). It was therefore equivalent to about U, Ad, sterling, or 80 cents. See D&AM; Stater. By the law every Jew was required to pay half a shekel to the Temple (£xod. xxx, 13 sq.), and this amount is represent^ by the didrachma in Matt, xvii, 24, where it is used for the '* tribute- money" demanded of Christ (compare Josephus, AnL xviii, 9, 1). The Septuagint everywhere renders the ''shekel" of the Old Testament by didrackma} but as
Roman Didrachm with Greek Inscription.
the Attic drachma was equal to only half a shekel, it seems from this probable that the drachma of Alexan- dria was equal to two Attic drachmsB, or one of ^gina. See Frentz, De didrachmis a Chritto eolutie (Yiteb. 1787) ; Schmidt, id. (Argent. 1701 ; Lips. 1757 ; also in his Diepp. p. 796-868) ; Leisner, Illustratio loci Matt. (Fridericopol. 1794) ; Paulus, Erwerbungtmitiel dee 8t€h ter (in his Tlieol. Joum, 1795, p. 859-78> 931-45). See Tbibute.
Dld''3rinii8 (AiSvftoQy the Twin), a surname (John xi, 16) of the apostle Thomas (q. v.).
Didymtui of Alexandria (called the BKnd) was bom at Alexandria about A.D. 811, and unfortunately lost his sight in the fourth or fifth year of his age ; yet he arrived at great proficiency, it is qaid, in philoso- phy, rhetoric, mathematics, music, and divinity (Soc- rates, Eccl. Hist, iv, 25). He became master of the catechetical school of Alexandria, where his fame drew to him *' numbers from dbtant parts to see him only ;'* and among his disciples were St. Jerome, Rufinus, Pal- ladius, Evagrius, and Isidore. Anthony, the chief of the Recluses, visited him ; and seeing him blind, said, ** Let it nothing move you, O Didymus, that your bod- ily eyes are lost, for you are deprived only of the same kind of eyes as serve the basest insects for vision ; but rather rejoice that you possess those with which an- gels are seen, and God himself is discerned.*' He died at Alexandria A.D. 896. He opposed the Arian doctrine, but seems to have embraced certain of the views of Origen, which caused him to be condemned at the fifth General Council of Constantinople. He was a voluminous writer, but most of his works are lost; there is a list of them in Jerome, De Vir. Illutt. and in Fabricius, Bibliotheca GrcBca, ix, 269 sq. (ed. Harles). Those that are preserved are (1.) De spiritu Sancto (of the Holy Spirit), of which Jerom^ made a Latin version, which is preserved among his works. The Greek original is lost It is given in Gallandii Bibliotheca Patrum, vol. vi ; in Migne, Patrologia Gne- ca, xxxix; and in separate editions, Cologne, 1581, 8vo; and (better) Helmstadt, 1614, 8vo. The book teaches that the Holy Spirit is not a mere name or property, but a real existence '*in union with the Fa- ther and the Son, and difierent from all created things ;" that it is the cause of wisdom, knowledge, and sanc- tification ; and (Luke xi, 18) **that it is the ftilness of the gifts of God ; and all divine benefits subsist through it, since whatever gift God's grace bestows flows down fh>m this fountain ;" that it is unbounded, therefore no creature (Mark xiii, 11) ; that it is not of the nature