I don’t see how
πείθειν δῶρα καὶ θεοὺς λόγος = It is said that gifts persuade even the gods.
how does λόγος = It is said that?
why πείθειν is in infinitive and not 3rd pl.?
probably some grammatical structure I’m missing.
It is probably to be taken as an ellipsis for λόγος ἐστι, which takes accusatiuus cum infinitiuo, δῶρα being the object of πείθειν.
Timothée is correct that λόγος is an ellipsis for something like λόγος ἐστι, "the word is that . . . ", i.e., “it is said that . . . .”, which calls for an accusative subject + infinitive construction (indirect discourse).
But θεοὺς is the object, not the subject, of πείθειν. The accusative subject of πείθειν is δῶρα. It’s the gifts that persuade, and the gods who are persuaded. (I suspect that Timothée knows this–it’s just a slip.) καὶ here means “even”. “. . . gifts persuade even gods”.
Whoops, do excuse me. That was merely a slip-up. Yes, of course gifts persuade gods, not the other way around.