TRANSLATION, earlier at tarotpedia.com (once done by Marco Ponzi, as I remember)
http://www.tarotpedia.com/wiki/Boiardo_ ... Vano_Mondo
World, you are vainly loved by the mad,
And a fool thinks he can bring you on his donkey,
Because the stupid only trust your state.
Lazyness kept Sardanapalus idle between feathers,
Lustful concubines and banquet,
For so long that he lost the habit of reigning.
Hyppolita endured such efforts, that she is the only one
Of the amazons who is crowned by merit:
And her name still flies in Scythia and in Greece.
Actheon was inflamed by desire of an heavenly
Person, so much that he was transformed into a deer:
So a man should not put his desire too high.
Reason made Laura triumph over the perverted
Child Cupid, because she neither moved
Her eye from virtue nor ever put a foot wrong.
Antiochus was so secret, that he almost
Died for his love for Stratonica;
But the kind physician helped him effectively.
Grace does not go by chance, but with reason,
To the discreet and wise, for in love can be proud
He that hides his strongest passion.
Anger filled king Herod so much
That he ordered to kill Mariamne, then
He calls her, and crying suffers with love.
Psyche was patient in what happened to her,
And because of that she found help in her troubles,
And in the end was made a Goddess, to be an example for us.
An error made Jacob a slave for seven years,
Because he did not speak of Rachel to Laban;
But time repaired all his damage.
In Penelopes there was such perseverance,
That, by weaving and undoing her web,
She deserved to rejoin her beloved Ulysses.
Egeus made for himself a cruel doubt,
So that he was quick to seek death in the sea,
As soon as he saw Theseus come back with black sails.
Sophonisba was faithful to Massinissa
Beyond doubt, because she promised to drink poison
If she were forced to follow the triumph.
Nesso deceived when he said to Deianira:
Give this cloth with blood to Hercules,
If it ever happens that you have to fight for love.
In Hipermestra, as in a cunning snake,
There was wisdom because wearing the clothes of a woman
She saved her husband who was bloodless with fear.
Chance fell on Pompeyus, that for many years
Had seated at the top of the wheel,
But in the end fortune submerged him with troubles.
Emilia, the faithful wife of Scipio, showed
Modesty; because when she found him with a maid,
She did not talk of his sin not to make it public.
A spark brings danger of a big fire:
See how Cesar was killed in the senate
By only two people; after he survived the anger of Sulla.
Experience was in Rhea, who after hiding
Jove in mount Ida, ordered to make noise
So that he could not be found because of his crying.
Time, you that hurry men to death,
You saved Nestor, and if in the end he came to an end,
It seems impossible to think of such a life.
Oblivion, you are the end and boundary
Of all, you took to Lethe Elice and Dido,
And among your ruins you have fame and time.
Inner strength made happy the death of
Lucretia: to clean her fame
She killed herself, and she prepared for the offender a dark net,
Giving an example to those who love their own name and honour.