  These dramatic features raise questions of philosophical importance.  Why does Plato connect the Sophist and Statesman  with the Theaetetus and Parmenides, dialogues  written in all probability a good deal earlier? Why do the speakers  keep anticipating a third dialogue, the Philosopher  (Sophist 216c–217b, 253c–254b;  Statesman 257a–c, 258b), on a topic plainly dear to  Plato’s heart, which he then never wrote? Why does Plato replace  Socrates with the colorless visitor from Elea? Elsewhere Plato allows speakers to give long speeches (e.g., Timaeus’ cosmogony  in the Timaeus), so why does the visitor engage in question  and answer, given that he does most of the talking and his respondents seem unprepossessing and are chosen precisely because they are young and  so likely to cause least trouble (cf. Sophist 217d with  Parmenides 137b)?