MEANING OF MOP[Phi]H IN PHILIPPIANS 2:6-7, THE

3. ... (Dion. Hal., Ant. oral. 1.1).

Having escaped detection by, and deceived, the ignorance of the masses, she [i.e. the more recent, debased class of rhetoricians] lived not only in greater ease and luxury and social status than the others, but also attached to herself the honors and governorships of cities, which the philosopher ought to have had.60

As to the first passage: the context indicates that ... must signify, in this text at least, something like standing or esteem. Shalmaneser presumably would not have entrusted Tobit with the office of purchasing agent simply because he admired the Israelite's physique. Since, moreover, (a) beauty constitutes a secondary, but well-attested sense of ...; and (b) the concepts of beauty and status overlap significantly, especially when one speaks of status or beauty ... someone else, such as Shalmaneser; ... seems (c) to lend itself quite easily to metaphorical use in the sense of status in the context of Tob 1:13.61 It seems unreasonable, therefore, to dispute the exegesis of this text proposed by Joseph Fitzmeyer. "The word ...," he writes, "denotes Outward form, appearance,' and describes the way that Tobit was seen and regarded by others, i.e. the image he projected or his recognized status at court."62 It seems, accordingly, that Tob 1:13 does supply a precedent for the employment of ... in the sense of "status" or "esteem."

The second passage, similarly, appears to attest the usage of ... in the related sense of "bearing." After stating that, according to some, Demosthenes's immoderate boasting qualifies him as a rustic, Dionysius of Halicarnassus adds, by way of explanation: "For the rustic differs from the citizen not in appearance of body [...], but in a certain training and disposition of bearing [...]." Dionysius employs ..., then, in the sense of "external appearance" early in this sentence. It is unlikely, therefore, that, only a few syllables further, he would employ the same term in a starkly contrastive, substantial sense. Erscheinungsform nonetheless seems an awkward translation for the second ... of this sentence; no amount of "disposition and training" can render a congenitally ugly ... beautiful. The second ..., consequently, must signify something (1) that one can modify through persistent effort; (2) that is neither a substance nor an Erscheinungsform; and (3) that nonetheless relates closely to Erscheinungsform, the meaning of the sentence's first .... Now "deportment," "manner," and "bearing" meet these rather stringent requirements and, if substituted for ..., would not disrupt the sentence's logical or syntactical flow. It seems difficult, accordingly, reasonably to deny that ... at least may mean something like "deportment," "manner," or "bearing" in this instance.

In the third and final text, Dionysius relates how a new class of rhetoricians, a class he personifies as a shrew, gained the ascendancy during the Hellenistic period over the practitioners of what Dionysius calls "the ancient and philosophical rhetoric." The question of whether ... signifies "status" in this text hinges on the meaning of the following clause: .... In our translation, we assume that the phrase, ... designates the respects in which the new rhetoricians flourished more than devotees of the ancient art.