James Adam, The Republic of Plato

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ἀρετὴν -- ἀμφιέσονται: ‘they will clothe themselves with excellence instead of garments,’ viz. by thus stripping for exercise, because τοῦ βελτίστου ἕνεκα γυμνάζονται: see B below. Jowett's translation “for their virtue will be their robe” is incorrect, and would require the future perfect instead of ἀμφιέσονται. The correct explanation is given by Schneider on p. 300 of his translation. ἀμφιέσονται (for the usual Attic ἀμφιοῦνται, which Herwerden would write) has a certain archaic effect (cf. I 330 B note), and the saying may be borrowed or adapted from some earlier author. The same metaphor is found in Plutarch Praec. Coniug. 10. 139 C τοὐναντίον γὰρ ἡ σώφρων ἀντενδύεται τὴν αἰδῶ (with reference to Hdt. I 8, a passage which is hardly likely—as Ast supposed— to have suggested Plato's phrase), but Plutarch's meaning is different from Plato's. So—except for the metaphor— is Tennyson's in the line quoted by Warren from Godiva “Then she rode forth, clothed on with chastity.”

κοινωνητέον πολέμου κτλ. The wives of the Sauromatae are described by Herodotus (IV 116) as ἐπὶ θήρην ἐπ᾽ ἵππων ἐκφοιτέουσαι ἅμα τοῖσι ἀνδράσι καὶ χωρὶς τῶν ἀνδρῶν, καὶ ἐς πόλεμον φοιτέουσαι καὶ στολὴν τὴν αὐτὴν τοῖσι ἀνδράσι φορέουσαι. Cf. also Laws 804 E—806 B. See also on 451 C ff.

δοτέον. There is no reason whatever for thinking (as some critics have thought) that Plato is not serious in making these regulations. Stobaeus (Flor. 43. 100) has ἀποδοτέον: but see 452 A note