In foro ne barbari quidem mercatores hodie strepitum faciunt, quia praeco eos tacere iubet.

Because in with the ablative usually means in / on / at a place where something is happening.

• forum, fori = marketplace, forum
• ablative singular = foro
• so in foro = in the forum / in the marketplace

If in took the accusative instead, it would usually mean motion into somewhere.

• in forum = into the forum
• in foro = in the forum

ne ... quidem is a standard Latin way to say not even.

In this sentence:

• ne barbari quidem mercatores = not even the foreign merchants

A very important point is that ne and quidem usually surround the word or phrase being emphasized.

So here the emphasized phrase is barbari ... mercatores.

You can think of it like this:

• ne
  • barbari mercatores
    • quidem
• not even
  • the foreign merchants

This construction is very common in Latin and often feels backwards to English learners at first.

The adjective barbarus, -a, -um can mean foreign, non-Greek/non-Roman, or barbarian, depending on context.

In a sentence about a marketplace and merchants, barbari mercatores most naturally means:

• foreign merchants

rather than

• barbarian merchants

So this is more about them being outsiders or non-locals than about them being savage.

Because they go together as the subject of faciunt.

• mercatores = merchants
• barbari describes mercatores
• both are masculine nominative plural

So:

• barbari mercatores = foreign merchants

Latin adjectives agree with the nouns they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case

That is why both words are plural and nominative here.

Latin word order is much freer than English word order. Hodie simply means today, and its position can be chosen for emphasis or style.

Here:

• In foro ne barbari quidem mercatores hodie strepitum faciunt

puts hodie close to the verb phrase strepitum faciunt, which can feel like:

• today, they are making noise
• or today they are not making noise

Latin often places adverbs where they sound natural or where the author wants emphasis, rather than following a fixed English-like pattern.

Latin often uses a noun + facere to express an action, much like English sometimes says:

• make a noise
• make trouble

Here:

• strepitus, -us = noise, din
• accusative singular = strepitum
• strepitum facere = to make noise

So strepitum faciunt literally means they make noise, which is perfectly natural Latin.

Because Latin often uses a singular abstract or mass noun where English might also use a singular:

• make noise
• not necessarily make noises

So strepitum does not mean just one tiny sound. It refers to noise/din in a general sense.

Eos is accusative masculine plural, and it is the direct object of iubet.

• is, ea, id = he/she/it; that
• accusative masculine plural = eos = them

In this sentence, praeco eos tacere iubet means:

• the herald orders them to be silent

Latin uses the accusative + infinitive after iubeo with the person ordered in the accusative:

• eos = the people being ordered
• tacere = what they are ordered to do

By contrast:

• ei can be nominative plural masculine or dative singular
• eis/iis is dative or ablative plural

Neither fits here.

Because after iubeo (order, command), Latin commonly uses this pattern:

• person in the accusative
  • infinitive

So:

• praeco eos tacere iubet
• literally: the herald orders them to be silent

This is a very common construction:

• magister puerum laborare iubet = the teacher orders the boy to work
• dux milites manere iubet = the leader orders the soldiers to remain

English often uses to + verb after order, but Latin just uses the bare infinitive.

The verb iubeo, iubere, iussi, iussus means order, command, or bid.

So praeco eos tacere iubet is stronger than simply asking. It means the herald has authority and is telling them to be quiet.

A softer verb would be something like rogat (asks), but that is not what appears here.

A praeco is a public crier, announcer, or herald.

In Roman life, a praeco might:

• make public announcements
• call out notices
• maintain order in a public setting
• announce sales or auctions

So in this sentence, it makes sense that the praeco is the one telling the merchants to be quiet.

Because quia normally introduces a clause of real cause: because.

So:

• quia praeco eos tacere iubet
• because the herald orders them to be silent

The indicative mood is normal here because this is presented as a straightforward fact.

From context and grammar.

The nearest suitable plural masculine group is:

• barbari ... mercatores

Then later we get:

• praeco eos tacere iubet = the herald orders them to be silent

So eos most naturally refers back to the merchants.

Latin often uses pronouns this way when the antecedent is already clear from context.

Yes. The sentence shows several very normal Latin word-order features:

• In foro comes first to set the scene: in the marketplace
• ne ... quidem wraps around the emphasized phrase
• hodie is placed where it fits naturally
• the main verb faciunt comes near the end
• the reason clause with quia comes after the main statement

A very literal order would be:

• In the marketplace not even the foreign merchants today noise make, because the herald them to-be-silent orders.

That sounds strange in English, but it is perfectly normal Latin style.

In Latin, yes, barbari can mean barbarians or foreigners by itself. But here it is best taken as an adjective modifying mercatores.

So the phrase is not:

• not even the foreigners, the merchants

but simply:

• not even the foreign merchants

The agreement in case, number, and gender supports that reading.

Here are the main forms:

• in = in, on, into
• forum, fori (n.) = forum, marketplace
• ne ... quidem = not even
• barbarus, -a, -um = foreign, barbarian
• mercator, mercatoris (m.) = merchant
• hodie = today
• strepitus, -us (m.) = noise, din
• facio, facere, feci, factus = make, do
• quia = because
• praeco, praeconis (m.) = herald, public crier
• is, ea, id = he, she, it; that
• taceo, tacere, tacui = be silent, keep quiet
• iubeo, iubere, iussi, iussus = order, command

These dictionary forms are useful because Latin words often appear in sentences in very different shapes depending on case, number, tense, and syntax.