How did the Roman Empire recruit soldiers?

From 753 BC to 107 BC the Roman army was a citizen militia. It drafted peasant- proprietors who owned a farm. Those who did not own land were exempted. This was because they were poor. The soldiers had to procure and pay for the military equipment themselves.

From 107 BC on the army became professional, the state paid for the military equipment and the citizens volunteered to join the army. The poor flocked to the army because it gave them a career, a pay and, on retirement, either a lump sum of money or a plot of land for them to farm.