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There are very few discourses so short, clear, and consistent, to which most men may not, with satisfaction enough to themselves, raise this doubt; and from whose conviction they may not, without reproach of disingenuity or unreasonableness, set themselves free with the old reply, Non persuadebis, etiamsi persuaseris; though I cannot answer, I will not yield.
The whole language of this sentence is poetical, e.g. the use of the inf. after persuaseris, of annum for annuam mensem, the sense of vocare and mereri, &c. Vocare, i.e. provocare, cf. H. 4, 80, and Virg. Geor. 4, 76. Mereri, earn, deserve, i.e. by bravery. Pigrum et iners. Piger est natura ad laborem tardus; iners, in quo nihil artis et virtutis. K. Render: a mark of stupidity and incapacity.
The will also thereby is hardened and hindered from submitting to truth. In such a case, non persuadebis, etiamsi persuaseris; although you stop his mouth, you cannot subdue his heart; although he can no longer fight, yet he never will yield: animosity raised by such usage rendereth him invincibly obstinate in his conceits and courses.
Quin immo. Nay but, nay more. These words connect the clause, though not placed at the beginning, as they are by other writers. They seem to be placed after pigrum in order to throw it into an emphatic position. So gradus quin etiam, 13, where see note. Possis. You, i.e., any one can. Cf. note II. 1, 10: laudares. So persuaseris in the preceding sentence.
Nam epulae et, quanquam incompti, largi tamen apparatus pro stipendio cedunt: materia munificentiae per bella et raptus. Nec arare terram, aut expectare annum, tam facile persuaseris, quam vocare hostes et vulnera mereri. Pigrum quinimmo et iners videtur, sudore acquirere, quod possis sanguine parare.
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