years Plato's philosophical speculation became more profound and his dramatic talents more refined. During this period Plato could have written the Meno, Euthydemus, Menexenus, Cratylus, Republic, Phaedrus, Symposium and Phaedo. These texts differ from the earlier in that they tend toward the grand speculation that provides us with many hallmarks of Platonism, such as the method of hypothesis, the recollection theory and, of course, the theory of ideas, or forms, as they are sometimes called. We know little of the remaining thirteen years in Plato's life. Probably sick of his wanderings and misfortunes in Sicily, Plato returned to the philosophical life of the Academy and, most likely, lived out his days conversing and writing. During this period, Plato could have written the so-called "later" dialogues, the Parmenides, Theatetus, Sophist, Statesman, Timaeus, Critias, Philebus and Laws, in which Socrates plays a relatively minor role.Plato died in 347, leaving the Academy to Speusippus, his sister's son. The Academy served as the model for institutions of higher learning until it was closed by the Emperor Justinian in 529 CE, almost one thousand years later. The RepublicThe Republic of Plato is the longest of his works with the exception of the Laws, and is certainly the greatest of them. There are nearer approaches to modern metaphysics in the Philebus and in the Sophist. The institutions of the state are more clearly laid out in the Laws; as works of art, the Symposium and the Protagoras are of higher excellence. But no other dialogue of Plato has the same view and the same style; no other shows an equal knowledge of the world, or contains more of those thoughts which are new as well as old. Nowhere in Plato is there more use of imagery, or dramatic power. None of his works connect politics with philosophy as well as The Republic. The Republic is the center around which the other Dialogues may be grouped; here philosophy reaches the ...
