禮記·祭統（節選）礼记·祭统（节选）

A tripod bears an inscription. To inscribe is to name: one names in order to praise and celebrate the excellence of one's forebears and make it known clearly to later generations. Every forebear had something excellent in him and something bad. The rule of the inscription is to name the excellent and not the bad: this is the heart of a filial son or grandson, and only the worthy can manage it.

An inscription sets out in order a forebear's virtue and goodness, his achievements and labours, the rewards and honours he received and the renown he had throughout the world, and weighs them on a sacrificial vessel; the maker sets his own name on it too, and with it makes offerings to his forebears. To make the forebears known and honoured is to exalt filial piety. To set oneself beside them is to follow in their line. To show it plainly to later generations is to teach. With a single act of naming, an inscription serves those above and those below. So when a gentleman looks at an inscription, he admires both what it praises and the one who made it. The one who made it was clear-sighted enough to see the excellence, humane enough to share in it, and wise enough to profit by it: he may be called worthy. To be worthy and not to boast of it may be called respectful.

So the inscription on the tripod of Kong Kui of Wei says: "On the dinghai day of the sixth month, the duke went to the Great Temple. The duke said: 'Uncle! Your ancestor Zhuang Shu stood at the side of Duke Cheng. Duke Cheng ordered Zhuang Shu to follow him in his troubles north of the Han, and to his lodging in the Zhou capital, and he hurried to and fro without tiring. He opened the way for Duke Xian, and Duke Xian ordered Cheng Shu to continue his ancestor's service. Your late father Wen Shu revived the old aspirations, rose to follow good service, and cared in person for the state of Wei. He laboured for the duke's house day and night without slackening, and the people all said: Splendid!' The duke said: 'Uncle! I give you an inscription: continue your father's service!' Kui bowed and touched his head to the ground, and said: 'In answer I shall proclaim it and make it bright; and this great charge I shall set upon the vessels and tripods of the winter sacrifice.'" Such is the inscription on the tripod of Kong Kui of Wei.

The gentlemen of old set out in order the excellence of their forebears and made it known clearly to later generations; they set themselves beside them, and gave weight to their state and family, in this way. If sons and grandsons who keep the ancestral temple and the altars of the state praise a forebear who had no excellence, that is a falsehood; if he had goodness and they do not know it, that is a want of clarity; if they know it and do not pass it on, that is a want of humanity. These three are what a gentleman is ashamed of.