Jerome. Lives of Illustrious Men 109
109 Didymus the Blind PL 23, 705
Didymus, of Alexandria, becoming blind while very young, and therefore ignorant of the rudiments of learning, displayed such a miracle of intelligence as to learn perfectly dialectics and even geometry, sciences which especially require sight. He wrote many admirable works: Commentaries on all the Psalms, Commentaries on the Gospels of Matthew and John, On the doctrines, also two books Against the Arians, and one book On the Holy Spirit, which I translated in Latin, eighteen volumes On Isaiah, three books of commentaries On Hosea, addressed to me, and five books On Zechariah, written at my request, also commentaries On Job, and many other things, to give an account of which would be a work of itself. He is still living, and has already passed his eighty-third year.
Didymus, Alexandrinus, captus a parva aetate oculis, et ob id elementorum quoque ignarus, tantum miraculum sui omnibus praebuit, ut dialecticam quoque, et geometriam, quae vel maxime visu indiget, usque ad perfectum didicerit. Is plura opera et nobilia conscripsit, commentarios in psalmos omnes, commentarios in Evangelium Matthaei et Joannis, et de Dogmatibus, et contra Arianos libros duos, et de Spiritu sancto librum unum, quem ego in Latinum verti: in Isaiam tomos decem et octo, in Osee, ad me scribens, commentariorum libros tres, et in Zachariam, meo rogatu, libros quinque, et commentarios in Job, et infinita alia quae digerere proprii indicis est. Vivit usque hodie, et octogesimum tertium aetatis excessit annum.
Δίδυμος, Ἀλεξανδρεὺς, ἐκ νέας ἡλικίας βλαβεὶς τὰς ὄψεις, καὶ διὰ τοῦτ' ἄπειρος τῶν στοιχείων, τοσοῦτον θαῦμα πᾶσι παρέσχετο, ἕως τε τὴν διαλεκτικὴν, καὶ γεωμετρικὴν, ἥτις μάλιστα ὁράσεως χρῄζει, εἰς ἄκρον ἐκμεμαθηκέναι. Ὅστις πολλὰ καὶ περιφανῆ συνέταξε, τουτέστιν ὑπομνήματα εἰς πάντας τοὺς Ψαλμούς, ὑπομνήματα εἰς Ματθαῖον καὶ Ἰωάννην, καὶ περὶ Δογμάτων, καὶ κατὰ Ἀρειανῶν λόγους δύο, καὶ περὶ Πνεύματος ἁγίου λόγον ἕνα, ὅντινα ἐγὼ εἰς Ῥωμαϊκὸν μετέφρασα· εἰς Ἠσαϊαν τόμους ὀκτωκαίδεκα, εἰς Ὠσηὲ πρὸς ἐμὲ γράφων ὑπομνημάτων λόγους τρεῖς, εἰς Ζαχαρίαν ἐμοῦ παρακαλέσαντος λόγους πέντε, ὑπομνήματα εἰς τὸν Ἰὼβ, καὶ ἄλλα ἄπειρα, ἅτινα διηγήσασθαι ἰδίου ἐστὶ καταλόγου. Περίεστιν ἄχρι τοῦδε, καὶ ὀγδοηκοστὸν τρίτον ἐπλήρωσεν ἐνιαυτόν.