for a society to keep a soldier it comes somewhat cheap then to keep a warrior

a warrior is someone who stakes it´s land catle slaves wife sons honour the memory of his forefathers every time he enter an arena or a batlefield a soldier does his job and survives and if he dies he doesn´t get payed (the soldiers who died in the punic war meant their wifes would loose their lands to the rich landowners since they where needed back home to plough those lands)

also warriors are political liabilities for a goverment who wishes a more centralised state (i remembered the parnii becoming farmers and all of a sudden only the king could keep a strong and large enough heard to continue to fight on horseback) but warriors are the best ensurance that a society remains free or will be very hard to tackle down since you can defeat 1 2 3 4 5 armies but the warriors will never quit as i said lands catle prestige wifes slaves (durkheims work on social ascension can explain it better sociologically why it was better to die then to survive defeated)