CEVA, TOMMASO. - Born in Milan on 26 Dec. 1648, he entered the Society of Jesus on 20 Dec. 1663 and died in Milan on 3 Feb. 1737. Younger brother of GIOVANNI C. (who gave his name to certain theorems in geometry), Tommaso also distinguished himself in mathematics, which he taught for 38 years.
Among his essays (*Opuscula mathematica*, Milan 1691; *De natura gravium*, ibid. 1699), mention should be made, among other things, of his invention of an instrument for dividing any angle into equal parts (published in 1695 and reported in the *Acta eruditorum* of Leipzig the same year). As a mathematician, Ceva remained tied to geometric methods rather than opening himself to the new analytical ones. However, Ceva enjoys wider fame for his Latin poetry, especially for the curious and original *Iesus Puer* (Milan 1690, several reprints and translations, at least five of them in Italian). Among his poetic *Sylvae* (1699), the *Cippus* was noted, imitated in Gresset’s *Vert-vert*. A many-sided figure, he defended traditional philosophy against innovators such as Descartes and Gassendi in the hexameters of *Philosophia novo-austriaca* (Milan 1704, several reprints), intervened with anonymous pamphlets in controversies over Jansenism and the Chinese Rites, and devotedly published the works of the celebrated orator Fr. Carlo Ambrogio Cattaneo. He also wrote edifying biographies (*Via di mons. Luigi Ruzzini vescovo di Bergamo*, ibid. 1712, etc.), sometimes of interest to literary criticism (*Memorie d'alcune virtù del sig. conte Francesco de Lemene, con alcune riflessioni sulle poesie*, ibid. 1766). He was a member of the Accademia degli Arcadi (*Callimaco Neridio*).
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