προκρίνειν in the construction +acc +gen +ἐν c. dat.

This question is about the workings of the language.



Besides the reciprocal pronoun being “fudged” in this translation of Fowler’s, there is a “gap” in the meaning needed for rendering into English here. The four possibilities may be:
● does the verb προκρίνειν have the ability to imply a resulting change “they are moved by preference to”, or
● does the preposition imply the action needed to get the offices, "in (the assignment of) or
● the nouns are able prompt us to imagine the verbs “in giving”, or
● is this just an idiomatic expression (the sum of the parts is greater than the whole that parts alone suggest in a readily understood way)?
Different translators may take either of those assumptions into their thinking when rendering the Greek in English, but how us the Greek working here?

The question arises while reading

“when (seeking) advice(s)”

Here’s a similar usage of ἐν from Aristotle:

οἱ μὲν οὖν εἰς ὄνειδος ἄγοντες αὐτὸ φιλαύτους καλοῦσι τοὺς ἑαυτοῖς ἀπονέμοντας τὸ πλεῖον ἐν χρήμασι καὶ τιμαῖς καὶ ἡδοναῖς ταῖς σωματικαῖς.