# Retiarius vs. Gladiator: Who Has the Advantage? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 29, 2003, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retiarius-vs-gladiator-who-has-the-advantage/165098 "2003-03-29T23:06:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retiarius-vs-gladiator-who-has-the-advantage/165098/1 "2003-03-29T23:06:32Z")
Modern civilization is seriously devoid of death sports (except for Automobile Racing). So it may not be easy to realistically assess what went on in the ancient Roman Coliseum. When I first found out about the retiarius having to face a gladiator’s sword without even a shield or any armor for defense, I felt sorry for the poor schmuck. Granted, if he succeeded in tightly tangling up the gladiator’s sword arm, he had the advantage. But only for a while—wouldn’t the gladiator eventually succeed in hacking or sawing his way out of the net? As long as the sword arm was out of action, the retiarius could get in a clean shot with the trident. However, if the retiarius got the gladiator tangled up enough to get a shot, but the sword arm wasn’t totally disabled, things could get messy. The trident had a short handle, so he would have to get in close, within sword range. I still don’t see how the gladiator doesn’t automatically have the advantage from the start. Seems to me the contest was inherently unequal. This offends my sense of fairness. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retiarius-vs-gladiator-who-has-the-advantage/165098/2 "2003-03-30T00:06:26Z")
I thought they used to give three-to-five odds _on_ the net man? (And you mean a _murmillo_ rather than a generic “gladiator”, don’t you?) The retiarius has a slight advantage in mobility, and substantially better peripheral vision … and the net, IIRC, is used in a variety of ways; with the lead weights at the ends of the trailing strands, it can be used to give a rather nasty whipping effect (flicking those weights at the opponent’s eyes was a standard tactic). The murmillo was likely to be tripped, too, and tangled up that way … and all he can do is try to close in enough to put his sword to work. I don’t think I’m going to shed too many tears for the poor doomed retiarius, all things considered … ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retiarius-vs-gladiator-who-has-the-advantage/165098/3 "2003-03-30T01:36:52Z")
Lead weights, I didn’t know about those, I guess those would help to tip the balance somewhat. By “gladiator” I meant the guy with the sword (thinking _gladius_=sword). So you think they were evenly matched? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retiarius-vs-gladiator-who-has-the-advantage/165098/4 "2003-03-30T01:57:34Z")
I think it’s a more even match than it might appear … I don’t think the heavier armour of the murmillo is as much of an advantage as it looks, at least in one-on-one combat. (Must try and dig out where I got that “three-to-five odds” bit from … it _is_ a genuine quote, but it’s three in the morning here, and I’m darned if I can remember where I read it … )