Dialoguing with Plato: Allusions, Borrowings and Exegesis in Platonic ‘Spuria’

This chapter considers in more detail two dialogues from the Appendix Platonica: the short dialogue On Virtue and the Sisyphus. Both build upon Plato’s Meno, but with notable reformulations and, at least since the end of the nineteenth century, this play of allusions has been interpreted as a sign of forgery, even if confirming the Academic origins of dubia and spuria. By inquiring into the practical and exegetical background of these reprises, the study shows how production of school dialogues supported specific interpretations of Plato’s texts and could be used as a way to dialogue with the founder of the school through his writings.