 From the poorest in the "fifth class" to the richest in the "first class" and the equestrians above them, military service was compulsory for all.However, Roman citizens at this time generally viewed military service as a proper undertaking of duty to the state, in contrast to later views of military service as an unwelcome and unpleasant burden.Whereas there are accounts of Romans in the late empire mutilating their own bodies in order to exempt themselves from military service, there seems to have been no such reluctance to serve in the military of early Rome.