Latin was the language spoken in Rome and the surrounding region Latium as early as the 6th century BC and possibly earlier. The number of Latin speakers grew with the expansion of Rome’s empire around the Mediterranean, and the vocabulary swelled and forms modified under the influence of languages in the new subject territories (especially Greek). 
 The classical Latin authors lived within a few decades either side of the life of Christ. In the first century BC Cicero tried to prevent the republican government falling prey to the ambitions of dictators. A compelling public speaker, his honey-voiced skills brought him to the attention of politicians such as Caesar and Pompey, and he was courted by them as an owner of a newspaper or television station might be today. His writing was greatly admired, and the elegance and rhetorical flair of his prose became a model for later scholars and schoolboys to imitate. He was followed by, amongst others, the historian Tacitus, whose pointed asides on the theme of moral and aristocratic degeneration enliven his account of Rome under the early emperors. Of the poets the best known is perhaps Virgil. His story of the founding of Rome by the Trojan fugitive Aeneas emerged within a few years of publication as a political symbol and literary masterpiece. Horace, a friend of Virgil, is remembered for his Odes, four books of lyric poetry drawing on themes of love and friendship, and yearnings, never quite fulfilled, for homely contentment and rustic ease. The erotic elegies of Propertius and Tibullus echo Catullus’ earlier infatuation for Lesbia and foreshadow the work of Ovid, a decade or so later. Ovid’s wit and fresh invention brought new twists to the elegiac genre, and his verse was imitated more than any other by medieval writers; partly, perhaps, because copies were available, but also because of a lightness of touch which won him universal appeal.
    These classics have a timeless feel about them. They have been drummed into pupils for the best part of two thousand years (less the last few decades, perhaps). They are literature’s heroes and anti-heroes. If other heroes are found, more often than not they are those heroes’ heroes. Classical authors have been trotted out as arbiters of good taste throughout the centuries, medieval and Renaissance, neoclassical and new wave.
   This aura of permanence is reinforced by the serene grandeur of classical civilization, by the durability of buildings and statues which survive it. Much of what actually went on, however, was anything but serene and civilized. Writers and artists are known to find inspiration under duress and in times of political insecurity. So it was with some of the best Roman literature. Throughout most of the first century BC Italy suffered from political chaos and intermittent cruelty and bloodshed. ‘O Tempora O Mores!’ (‘What an age! What moral standards!’) cried Cicero, rounding on his peers for failing to live up to earlier times, and damning the period we have subsequently identified as one of the greatest in our history.
   The classical period of Latin was a moment in the language’s evolution which could not endure, for no living language can remain the same for long. The efforts of later grammarians to preserve classical Latin were a symptom of its passing. As the living, spoken language moved on, eventually evolving into French, Spanish, Italian and other Romance languages, this classical, literary Latin was preserved and ‘pickled’ by later generations of writers and scholars, and after the fall of the western empire, by monks in their monasteries.

From Teach Yourself Beginner's Latin (Sharpley)

The LATIN QVARTER
Learning to read Latin