By 133 BCE, Rome had conquered Italy, destroyed Carthage and colonised North Africa, and had just conquered Greece and Macedonia. It had been fighting expansionist battles for a solid two centuries and was not planning on stopping for a long time, which meant it needed Roman bodies in the army and newly built navy. Lots of Roman bodies. But there was a problem: service in the army was technically supposed to be a privilege limited to property-owning Roman citizens and Rome was running out of disposable men who owned land.
