rĕtento, āvi, ātum, 1, v. freq. a. [retineo], to hold back firmly, to keep back, to hold fast (rare; not in Cic.).
I Lit.: cur me retentas? Plaut. As. 3, 3, 1; id. Rud. 3, 6, 39; cf. agmen, Liv. 10, 5: legiones, Tac. H. 4, 13: fugientes, id. ib. 5, 21: admissos equos, Ov. A. A. 2, 434; cf. frena, id. Am. 2, 9, 30: puppes, Tac. H. 2, 35; Luc. 3, 586: vires regni, id. 4, 723: pecuniam, calones, sarcinas, Tac. H. 4, 60: caelum a terris, i. e. to hold apart , Lucr. 2, 729: iste qui retentat sese tacitus, quo sit tutus, restrains himself , Auct. Her. 4, 49, 62.—
II Trop.: iras, i. e. to suppress , Val. Fl. 3, 97.—
B Transf., to hold back from destruction , preserve , maintain : (mens divina) Quae penitus sensus hominum vitasque retentat, Cic. poët. Div. 1, 11, 17.