For the word „camillo“ the dictionaries only supply the meaning : “young free-born assistants at sacrifices”; this
seems not to be applicable to the text. A more probable derivation might be from Camilla, the warrior queen of the
Volsci in Virgil’s Aeneide, because she was praised in Giovanni Boccaccio’s ‘De claris mulieribus’ as an ideal of
virtuousness and chastity: when a young girl, her father consecrated her to Diana, the chast goddess, and she was
said to have lived up to it.
Italian text
Alme gentili, che nel ciel vi ornaste
Di quanto bel Dio a mill’altr’Alme diede,
Perché scendendo da l’eterna sede
La beltà di la sù tutta mostraste,
I nobili desii, le voglie caste,
E il sant’amor, c’hà in voi la prima sede,
Fan ben qui certa e indubitata fede,
Quanto dal ciel di gran valor portaste.
E come tosto che si scuopr’, il sole
In oriente fa sparir le stelle,
che sembravan nel ciel chiare faville,
Tal anche far la vostra beltà suole
Di quanto tra noi son chiar’ Alme e belle
Tosto che vi mostrast’, Alme Camille.
German translation
Freundliche Seelen, die ihr euch im Himmel geschmückt habt
mit so viel Guten, das Gott tausend anderen Seelen gegeben hat,
weil herabsteigend vom ewigen Thron
ihr die dortige Güte vollständig zeigt,
die edlen Wünsche, die keusche Gesinnung,
und die heilige Liebe, die in euch den Hauptsitz hat,
legen hier sicheres und unzweifelhaftes Zeugnis ab,
wieviel von hohem Wert ihr vom Himmel herbeitragt.
Und wie, sobald sie aufgeht, die Sonne
im Osten die Sterne verschwinden lässt.
die am Himmel helle Funken zu sein schienen,
so pflegt auch eure Güte zu tun
mit denen, die unter uns reine und schöne Seelen sind,
sobald ihr euch zeigt, tugendhafte Seelen.
Gentle souls, that have ornated yourselves in heaven
by so much goodness, which God has given to thousand other souls,
for by descendig from the eternal seat
you show the goodness reigning there above,
the noble desires, the chaste wishing,
and the holy love, that has its prime seat in you,
do well bear certain and undoubted witness here,
how much of great value you bring with you from heaven.
And like, when appearing, the sun
makes fade away the stars,
that seemed to be bright sparks in the sky,
so also your goodness uses to do
with those among us that are pure and neat souls,
as soon as you appear, virtuous souls.
Italian text
German translation
English translation