Corpus boundary — Epictetus v1
Fixed before any extraction (GENERATE_PKB_v2 step 1).
Included
- The Encheiridion (Manual) — PROOF WORK, whole text assembled
(sources/encheiridion_long_pg10661.txt: chapters I–LII, George Long
translation, Gutenberg #10661). This is the entire evidence pool for v1.
The Manual is a compact, complete digest of Epictetus' teaching, compiled by
his pupil Arrian from the Discourses — a naturally bounded corpus.
Included separately, marked
- The two closing quotations of ch. LII are not Epictetus' own prose: the
Cleanthes hymn ("Lead me, O Zeus, and thou O Destiny…") is verse by Cleanthes
that Epictetus quotes, and the Socrates line ("Anytus and Melitus are able
indeed to kill me, but they cannot harm me") is attributed to Socrates. Where
used, they are marked as quoted material, never as Epictetus speaking in his
own voice.
Excluded
- The Discourses (Diatribai) as primary evidence — Long's selection is
present insources/…full.txtfor reference, but v1's verbatim gate runs
against the Encheiridion only. Widening to the Discourses is a v2 decision and
needs its own boundary note (the Discourses are Arrian's transcript of spoken
lectures, a different textual status from the Manual). - The Fragments and later Stoic florilegia.
- Marcus Aurelius / Seneca / Musonius Rufus — other Stoics, not Epictetus.
- Modern translations (Oldfather Loeb, Hard, Dobbin, White) — not PD.
- Internet "Stoic quote" collections and motivational cards without an edition
trace — the Epictetus meme field is dense (seeQUOTE_AUTHENTICITY.md).
Reason
The Manual is the stable, self-contained primary source and the form in which
Epictetus is most quoted; keeping the evidence pool to one complete work with
one translator means every blockquote is mechanically checkable and the meme
field stays outside the fence.