Early Latin (the Old Latin period) predates Classical Latin and goes back as far as 753 BC when according to legend, the brothers Romulus and Remus were raised by a wolf, and together they founded the city of Rome. Romulus according to the legend, killed his brother Remus and took over Rome. 

An example of a work from the early period is by  Plautus, a plywright, whose works are the earliest Latin works to survive intact.

Classical Latin is the Latin that was used in the Roman Empire from the 1st century BC through the 2nd century AD.  This is the form of Latin that is generally taught in schools.

The Golden Age of classical Latin literature begins approximately 75 BC and lasts to approximately 15 AD and includes among others, Cicero, Julius Caesar and Catullus. The Silver Age of classical Latin literature  lasts until approximately the end of the 2nd century AD

Julius Caesar (100 B.C. - 44 B. C.) lived and ruled during the Golden Age of Latin literature. He ruled, not as an emperor, however by consolidating his power, he laid the foundation for future Roman emperors. The Gallic Wars were a series of battles from 58 B.C. - 51 B.C., led by Julius Caesar, in which he conquered Gaul (much of modern France). He wrote an account of the Gallic Wars in De Bello Gallico (on the Gallic War).

Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero) (106 B.C. - 43 B.C.), considered to be one of Rome's greatest orators. Today, 52 of his speeches survive.  One of the works he is known for include the Catiline Orations, against Catiline, a Roman senator who conspired to overthrow the Roman Republic.

Ovid (43 B.C. - 17 A. D. ) is a poet who wrote during the Golden Age of classical Latin. He is known for Metamorphoses, 15 books based on mythology, and ranges from creation up to the time of Julius Caesar.

Catullus (84 B.C. - 54 B.C.) is a Golden Age Roman poet, known for the Lesbia poems, devoted to an unknown woman (scholars speculate as to who the identity of the woman is), known as Lesbia.

Virgil (70 B.C. - 19 B. C.) also wrote during the Golden Age. His writings include the Eclogues, a work of pastoral poems and the Aeneid. The Aeneid is concerned with Aeneas, and the events of his life from the end of the Trojan War to his military victory in Italy over the Latins and Romulans.

Titus Livius (Livy) (59 B. C. - 17 A. D. ) was a Roman historian who provided much information about the history of early Rome.

Horace (65 B.C. - 8 B. C.) was a Golden Age poet know for The Odes, poems on a wide variety of subjects including love, friendship, religion, etc).

The Silver Age of classical Latin runs from approximately 15 AD to 135 AD. Some examples of Latin language literature from this time period include works by Juvenal, Tacitus, Pliny the Elder, Pliny the Younger and Suetonius. Suetonius' work The Twelve Caesars (De Vitis Caesarum) can be found in Latin at http://thelatinlibrary.com/suet.html

Latin

The term used to refer to pronunciation of a language. Though originally Latin was one language there has developed two different systems of proninciation, that of Classical Latin and Ecclesiastical Latin. Ecclesiastical Latin used by the Catholic Church and is pronounced somewhat differently that classical Latin. It is still similar to and is easily recognized as Latin, however the pronunciation of some words of Eccliastical Latin are similar to the pronunciation of words in the Italian language.

For example, "c" in classical Latin is always pronounced like the letter 'k', whereas in Classical Latin it is sometimes pronounced similar to the letter "s". Another example is in  Classical Latin the letter "v" is prounced similar to the letter "w", whereas in Ecclesiastical Latin it is pronounced as "v" as in Victor.

The Catholic Bible, known as the Latin Vulgate was translated from the Greek by St. Jerome.  St. Jerome was born in Italy in 345 A.D. At that time, both the Old Testament and New Testament were available in Greek, however there were many people in  the Roman Empire who did not know Greek so a reliable translation into Latin was necessary.  St. Jerome began translating the Bible into Latin in 382 A. D.  and completed the work in 405 A.D.

At the 3rd Council of Tours in 813, priests were directed to preach sermons in the vernacular, since by that time, most people no longer understood classical Latin, however the mass continued to be performed in Latin using Ecclesiastical Latin.

Medieval Latin was the form of Latin used during the Middle Ages from approximately the 4th century until the 10th or 11th century and include works such as St. Jerome's translation of the Bible (the Vulgate) in the 5th century. It also includes works such as Venerable Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum in 731 AD. Another example is Peter Abelard (known for his love affair with Heloise) works including Sic et Non (showing both sides of theological questions) and Historia calamatatum (History of my Misfortunes) written in 1132 AD.