 After 200 BC, economic conditions in rural areas deteriorated as manpower needs increased, so that the property qualifications for service were gradually reduced.Beginning with Gaius Marius in 107 BC, citizens without property and some urban-dwelling citizens ("proletarii") were enlisted and provided with equipment, although most legionaries continued to come from rural areas.Terms of service became continuous and long—up to twenty years if emergencies required it although Brunt argues that six or seven years was more typical.