Literal translation
Who pays late pays a lot
Meaning
the longer you delay payment, the more it costs
Explanation
This proverb warns that a delayed payment always ends up costing more than expected, whether through interest, penalties, or simply the rising price of things over time. The adjective larg (wide, ample) here qualifies the sum eventually paid, grown more generous than what would have sufficed had one settled promptly. The echoing construction, pays late, pays large, with the repeated verb pago (pays), gives the saying an almost mathematical finality, like an equation linking delay to extra cost. It is used in a commercial or financial setting, to urge prompt settlement of debts, but also, more broadly and positively, to say that a deserved reward after long effort is worth all the more for having come late. The register is sententious and popular, close to peasant and merchant common sense.