Unlike earlier in the Republic, legionaries were no longer fighting on a seasonal basis to protect their land. Instead, they received standard pay, and were employed by the state on a fixed-term basis. As a consequence, military duty began to appeal most to the poorest sections of society, to whom a guaranteed salary was attractive. The army, therefore, consisted of a far higher proportion of the poor—particularly the rural poor—than it had previously. A destabilising consequence of this development was that the proletariat "acquired a stronger and more elevated position" within the state. This professionalisation of the military was necessary to provide permanent garrisons for newly acquired and distant territories such as Hispania, something not possible under an army of seasonal citizen militia.