[472] In this way Marius introduced a great change in the military affairs of Rome. Previous to his time, only the citizens of the first five property classes were enlisted to serve in the legions. Those persons whose property did not come up to the lowest estimate of the fifth class, were excluded from the honourable service in the legions. They were _capite censi_, because, when the censors made out their lists, those persons had only to give in their personal existence or name for registration. Their being called 'the sixth class' is an improper application of the term, as, strictly speaking, _classis_ signifies only 'a property class.' As the number of persons of this kind was at that time (B.C. 107) already very considerable, and as there were among them many both able and willing to serve in the army, and lastly, as Marius was opposed to all exclusive privileges, he enlisted those poor people who voluntarily offered themselves in the legions, and thus created an army of able men, and accustomed to endure hardships. The higher orders did not object to this measure, because it lightened their burdens connected with the service in the army. But however useful this arrangement was at the time, it contained the elements of a body of soldiers distinct from the citizens; for when the time of their military service was over, those men did not feel inclined to return to a quiet citizen's life, and thus became a very powerful and ready instrument in the hands of ambitious generals, such as Sulla and Caesar. [473] _Sua curae_; another reading is _cura sunt_, the sense of which is nearly the same. _Sua_, 'a person's own property,' or 'all that belongs to him,' including the state itself. [474] 'With a considerably larger army.' About this meaning of _aliquanto_ with a comparative, see Zumpt, SS 108, 488. [475] _Utica_, the most important city in the province of Africa: it was a more ancient Phoenician colony than even Carthage. In the second Punic war, after it had revolted from Carthage, it was rewarded by the Romans with freedom and independence. Its present name is Biserta, north-west of Tunis.