I am currently reading Plato's works (chronologically). As you mention I keep asking myself "why did he not write anything? he knew he was a teacher of virtues." Now I am looking forward to the answer in Phaedrus.
Socrates, by means of Plato, Plato, by means of Aristotle, and Aristotle himself are all examples of masters, original communicators. Much of the way we think today, not just the philosophy, but even the mechanism, has to do with their writings. For example it appears the concept that something is either right or wrong comes from Aristotle, and that affects even our laws and sciences where as other cultures may have 4 possibilites: right, wrong, both right and wrong, and neither one nor the other. (I have not verified this, I just heard it last week)
Socrates, by means of Plato, Plato, by means of Aristotle, and Aristotle himself are all examples of masters, original communicators. Much of the way we think today, not just the philosophy, but even the mechanism, has to do with their writings. For example it appears the concept that something is either right or wrong comes from Aristotle, and that affects even our laws and sciences where as other cultures may have 4 possibilites: right, wrong, both right and wrong, and neither one nor the other. (I have not verified this, I just heard it last week)