When Roman citizenship was extended to most freemen within the empire's borders, the privileges it granted began to slip away. The division between citizen and non-citizen was replaced with that between honestiores, like soldiers and officials, and humiliories - everyone else. 
The stereotypical Roman legionary is armed with a gladius and a javelin, but for the latter half of the Empire's history fought in a deep, dense phalanx like a Greek hoplite.
Roman soldiers received payment in kind of food and equipment. Local officials had quotas of such supplies and had to make up the difference out of their own pockets if they couldn't meet them; this naturally made service in such positions unpopular.
Late Roman field troops were quartered in the houses of private citizens, and their behavior provides a good argument for the Third Amendment.
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