The 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 “Politicus” or “Statesman” is more ideal; the form and institutions of the State are more clearly drawn 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 largeness of view and the same perfection of style; no other shows an equal knowledge of the world, or contains more of those thoughts which are new as well as old, and not of one age only but of all. Nowhere in Plato is there a deeper irony or a greater wealth of humour or imagery, or more dramatic power.