2. T.Didius, a son of No. 1, repulsed, according to Florus (3.4; comp. Rufus, Brev. 9, and Ammian. Marcell. 27.4, where we read M. Didius instead of T. Didius), the Scordiscans who had invaded the Roman province of Macedonia, and triumphed over them. (Cic. in Pison. 25.) According to the narrative of Florus, this victory was gained soon or immediately after the defeat of the consult C. Cato, in B. C. 114, and was followed bv the victri es of M. Livius Drusus and M. Minncius
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Rufus. It has, therefore, been supposed that at the time of Cato's defeat, B. C. 114, T. Didius was praetor of Illyricum, and that in this capacity he repelled the Scordiscans, who, after having defeated Cato, ranged over Macedonia. But this supposition is not without its difficulties, for in the first place, we know of no war in Illyricum at that time which might have required the presence of a praetor, and in the second place, it would be rather strange to find that T. Didius, who was praetor B. C. 114, did not obtain the consulship till 15 years later, especially as he had gained a victory and a triumph in his praetorship, whereas the ordinary interval between the praetorship and consulship is only the space of two years. According to Cicero (l.c.), T. Didius triumphed ex Macedonia, and he had therefore had the administration of Macedonia and not of Illyricum ; moreover, Florus's account of the time of the victory of Didius over the Scordiscans is erroneous, for we learn from the Chronicle of Eusebius (170.2), that the victory of Didius over the Scordiscans took place the year after the fifth consulship of C. Marius, that is, in B. C. 100, and consequently 14 years later than the narrative of Florus would lead us to suppose. This also leaves us the usual interval of two years between the praetorship and the consulship, which Didius had in B. C. 98 with Q. Caecilius Metellus. In this year the two consuls carried the lex Caecilia Didia. (Schol. Bob. ad Cic. pro Sext. p. 310; Cic. pro Dom. 16, 20, pro Sext. 64, Philip. 5.3.) Subsequently Didius obtained the proconsulship of Spain, and in B. C. 93 he celebrated a triumph over the Celtiberians. (Fast. Triumph.; Cic. pro Planc. 25.) Respecting his proconsulship of Spain, we learn from Appian (App. Hisp. 99, &c.), that he cut to pieces nearly 20,000 Vaccaeans, transplanted the inhabitants of Termesus, conquered Colenda after a siege of nine months, and destroyed a colony of robbers by enticing them into his camp and then ordering them to be cut down. (Comp. Frontin. Strat. 1.8.5, 2.10.1.) According to Sallust (ap. Gel. 2.27; comp. Plut. Sert. 3) Sertorius served in Spain as military tribune under Didius. Didius also took part in the Marsic war, which soon after broke out, and he fell in a battle which was fought in the spring of B. C. 89. (Appian, App. BC 1.40 ; Vell. 2.16; Ov. Fast. 6.567, &c.) According to a passage in Plutarch (Plut. Sert. 12), Didius was beaten and slain, ten years later, by Sertorius in Spain, but the reading in that passage is wrong, and instead of Δίδιον, or as some read it Φίδιον, we ought to read Φουφίδιον. (Ruhnken, ad Vell. Pat. 2.16.) There is a coin figured on p. 602b., which refers to our T. Didius : the reverse shews a portico with a double row of pillars, and bears the inscription T. DIDI. IMP. VIL. PUB. From this we see, that T. Didius received the title of imperator in Spain (Sallust. l.c.), and that after his return to Rome he restored or embellished the villa publica in the Campus Martius. The obverse shews the head of Concordia, her name, and that of P. Fonteius Capito, who struck the coin, and on it commemorated an act of the life of Didius, with whose family, as we may infer from the image of Concordia, Fonteius Capito was connected by marriage. (Eekhel, Doctr. Num. v. p. 130.)