MAINTAIN Copy link • MAINTAINTo support, defend, tenere, obtinere (where the truth is contested): contendere; defendere (the former, to endeavor to carry against a different opinion; the latter, to defend; both, against opposition): affirmare (to maintain as true, to assert, affirm): asseverare (to maintain earnestly: ☞ in Cic., followed by an accusative and infinitive; in the Silver Age, found also, with a simple accusative. ☞ Asserere is not classical in this sense): efficere (to establish by proof): disserere, disputare (to assert and discuss): ponere, proponere, placet or videtur mihi (to lay down as one’s own opinion): dicere (to give as one’s opinion: all followed by an accusative and infinitive): aio (I say that a thing is so; opposed to nego): to maintain the contrary, negare: Democritus maintains that no one can be a good poet without enthusiasm, Democritus negat, sine furore quemquam poetam magnura esse posse. To supply with the necessaries of life, nutrire aliquem (to nourish with food and drink): alere (in a wider sense, to furnish everything that serves for sustenance): sustinere, sustentare aliquem, victum alicui praebere (to care for one’s maintenance): to maintain one’s self by any means, alere se aliqua re (e.g., se suosque latrociniis): victum quaeritare aliqua re (e.g., lanā ac telā, Terentianus, Andr., 1, 1, 48; therefore, by one’s needle, acu): to maintain one’s self by selling chaplets, coronas venditando sustentare paupertatem: maintain one’s self by the labor of one’s hands, manum mercede tolerare inopiam.