CEBU

cebu, a city and municipality, port of entry, and the capital of the province of cebu, island of cebu, philippine islands, on the e. coast, a little n. of the centre. pop. (1903) of the city proper, 18,330; of the municipality, 31,079; in the same year, after the census enumeration, the neighbouring municipalities of mabolo (pop. 1903, 8454) and el pardo (pop. 6461) were added to the municipality of cebu. the surrounding country, which is level and fertile, is traversed by several good carriage roads. the port, formed by the north-west shore of the island of mactan, is well protected from violent winds, and in front of it stands a picturesque spanish fort. the streets are wide and regularly laid out. the government buildings are fairly good, and the church buildings very fine. cebu is an episcopal see, and the palace of the bishop, although small, is widely known for its interior decorations. the augustinian church is famous for its so-called miraculous image of santo nino. the recoleto monastery and the seminary of san carlos are worthy of mention. the cathedral was finished toward the end of the eighteenth century. the san jose hospital here was founded by one of the religious orders. there was a leper hospital in the outskirts of the city until 1906, when a leper colony was established on the island of culion. commercially, cebu is the second city of the philippines. hemp, tobacco, sugar and copra are the most important exports. in addition to the trade with foreign ports, an important domestic commerce is carried on with manila, bohol, negros and northern mindanao. salt, pottery and fabrics of silk, sinamay, hemp and cotton are manufactured, and sugar sacks are woven in considerable quantity. the island of cebu is known for its excellent mangoes and for the rare cornucopia-shaped sponges, called venus's flower basket (_euplectella aspergillum_), found here. historically cebu is famous as the scene of magellan's landing in 1521. a cross, said to be the one first erected by him, is still preserved in the cathedral. the great explorer lost his life in the neighbouring island of mactan; a monument marks the place where he was killed. the first spanish settlement in the philippines was established at cebu in 1565, and from that year to 1571 it was the capital of the colony. the city is unincorporated. the language is cebu-visayan. cecco d'ascoli (1257-1327), the popular name of francesco degli stabili, a famous italian encyclopaedist and poet--cecco being the diminutive of francesco, and ascoli, in the marshes of ancona, the place of the philosopher's birth. he devoted himself to the study of mathematics and astrology, and in 1322 was made professor of the latter science at the university of bologna. it is alleged that he entered the service of pope john xxii. at avignon, and that he cultivated the acquaintance of dante only to quarrel with the great poet afterwards; but of this there is no evidence. it is certain, however, that, having published a commentary on the sphere of john de sacrobosco, in which he propounded audacious theories concerning the employment and agency of demons, he got into difficulties with the clerical party, and was condemned in 1324 to certain fasts and prayers, and to the payment of a fine of seventy crowns. to elude this sentence he betook himself to florence, where he was attached to the household of carlo di calabria. but his free-thinking and plain speaking had got him many enemies; he had attacked the _commedia_ of dante, and the _canzone d'amore_ of guido cavalcanti; and his fate was sealed. dino di garbo, the physician, was indefatigable in pursuit of him; and the old accusation of impiety being renewed, cecco was again tried and sentenced, this time to the stake. he was burned at florence the day after sentence, in the seventieth year of his age. cecco d'ascoli left many works in manuscript, most of which have never been given to the world. the book by which he achieved his renown and which led to his death was the _acerba_ (from _acervus_), an encyclopaedic poem, of which in 1546, the date of the last reprint, more than twenty editions had been issued. it is unfinished, and consists of four books in _sesta rima_. the first book treats of astronomy and meteorology; the second of stellar influences, of physiognomy, and of the vices and virtues; the third of minerals and of the love of animals; while the fourth propounds and solves a number of moral and physical problems. of a fifth book, on theology, the initial chapter alone was completed. a man of immense erudition and of great and varied abilities, cecco, whose knowledge was based on experiment and observation (a fact that of itself is enough to distinguish him from the crowd of savants of that age), had outstripped his contemporaries in many things. he knew of metallic aerolites and shooting stars; the mystery of the dew was plain to him; fossil plants were accounted for by him through terrene revolutions which had resulted in the formation of mountains; he is even said to have divined the circulation of the blood. altogether a remarkable man, he may be described as one of the many cassandras of the middle ages--one of the many prophets who spoke of coming light, and were listened to but to have their words cast back at them in accusations of impiety and sentences of death. the least faulty of the many editions of the _acerba_ is that of venice, dated 1510. the earliest known, which has become excessively rare, is that of brescia, which has no date, but is ascribed to 1473 or thereabouts.