How did Sallust’s writing style differ from Cicero’s prose style?

Sallust’s prose style represented a deliberate reaction against the established norms of Cicero. While Cicero, a master of the Ciceronian period, was renowned for his "copiousness"—using expansive, rhythmic, and flowing periods to express complex thoughts with clarity—Sallust adopted a starkly different approach.12

Sallust’s writing is characterized by a terse, epigrammatic style. Rather than the balanced, expansive sentences favored by Cicero, Sallust utilized a more condensed structure, often incorporating archaisms to achieve a distinct, classic status. His work is noted for its energy and passion, reflecting his own experiences in the political strife of the late Roman Republic.13

By avoiding the rhetorical "rolling periods" of Cicero, Sallust inaugurated a stylistic revolution that prioritized brevity and pointed expression. This Sallustian manner was later refined and exploited by writers such as Tacitus and the younger Seneca, who moved away from Ciceronianism toward a more dramatic, epigrammatic, and unpredictable prose style.14