CEVA, TOMMASO. — Born in Milan on 26 December 1648, he entered the Society of Jesus on 20 December 1663 and died in Milan on 3 February 1737. The younger brother of Giovanni C. (who gave his name to certain theorems of geometry), Tommaso also distinguished himself in mathematics, which he taught for 38 years.
Among his essays (Opuscula mathematica, Milan 1691; De natura gravium, there 1699), mention should be made, among other things, of the invention of an instrument for dividing any angle into equal parts (published in 1695 and reported in the Acta eruditorum of Leipzig in the same year); as a mathematician, C. remained anchored to geometric methods rather than opening himself to the new analytical ones. But C. enjoyed a broader reputation for his Latin poetry, especially for the curious and original Iesus Puer (Milan 1690, with various reprints and translations, at least five of them into Italian). Among his Sylvae poetiche (1699), the Cippus, circumscribed by Gresset’s Vert-vert, attracted attention. A versatile mind, C. defended traditional philosophy against innovators such as Descartes and Gassendi in the hexameters of Philosophia novo-antiqua (Milan 1704, with various reprints), intervened with anonymous pamphlets in the controversies concerning Jansenism and the Chinese rites, published with great dedication the works of the celebrated orator Fr. Carlo Ambrogio Cattaneo, and wrote edifying biographies (Vita di mons. Luigi Ruzzini vescovo di Bergamo, there 1712, etc.), sometimes also of interest for literary criticism (Memorie d'alcune virtù del sig. conte Francesco de Lemene, con alcune riflessioni sulle poesie, there 1706). He was a member of the Academy of the Arcadians (Callimaco Neridio).