Latin literature. Moreover, you will find other useful resources about Latin like words, schools, Latin literature and more
Latin Literature
Latin literature defines the literature of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire and is conventionally divided into "Golden" Latin, or Golden Age, which covers approximately the period from the start of the first century BC up to the mid-first century AD, and Silver Latin, which covers the remainder of the Classical period. These two periods are so full of skilful writers and of masterpieces that their works are still studied in schools and have became the symbol of culture and erudition.
Anything after the mid-second century comes under the blanket description of "late" Latin literature, and tends to be studied for the light it sheds on the development of Latin into the Romance languages rather than for its literary merit (though there are exceptions, eg. Augustine of Hippo.)
Golden Age
The Golden Age is perfectly represented by Lucretius' most famous work, "On the Nature of Things", which aims at freeing men's minds of superstition and fear of death. It achieves this through the principles of the philosophical system of Epicurus, whom Lucretius immortalizes. The work has several allusions to the tumultuous state of political affairs in Rome and its civil strife. Other masterpiece of this period is Virgil's Aeneid, which narrates the journey of the Trojan hero Aeneas from Troy to Italy. But maybe the most popular poem based on mythology is the Metamorphoses by Ovid which describes the creation and history of the world in terms of Greek and Roman mythology. The Metamorphosis has become the work best known to medieval writers and thus has had a great deal of influence on medieval poetry.
As for prose, it is compulsory to mention Julius Caesar's narration of the "Gallic Wars" and Cicero's Catilline Orations. Nepos, Sallust and Livy where three of the most popular historians and it is thanks to them if nowadays we have detailed descriptions of important facts such as the Catillinae Cospiracy (by Livy).
Silver Latin
The Golden Age in mainly characterised by prose and theatre. In the first category falls Petronius' Satyricon. Written around 60 CE, the tale is a mixture of prose and poetry detailing the misadventures of the narrator, Encolpius, his friend Ascyltus, and Giton, their attendant and love object. The Roman worship of Priapus is the topic of its tales of the orgies and debauchery of Nero's time, heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual.
As for theatre, mention should be made of Seneca and of his tragedies, which probably were closet drama, writing in a dramatic form but intended to be read rather than performed. He adapted plays from the classical Greek theatre by the tragedians Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Seneca's plays were widely read in medieval European universities, so they strongly influenced Renaissance tragic drama, particularly the literature of Elizabethan England.