不寒而慄

漢武帝時，有一個人名叫義縱，因為受到太后的恩寵，做了上黨郡某縣令。上任以後，公務辦得很出色，案子處理上敢作敢為，不論是有錢有勢的豪紳，還是平民，只要犯了法，義縱秉公審辦，皇上很讚賞他，調他做河內郡都尉。一到任，他立即把禍害一方的豪門大族滿門抄斬，一時間，河內郡的治安和社會風氣大有好轉，有人不慎把東西失落在道路上，也沒有人搶走據為已有。

義縱調到南陽任太守時，一個做惡多端的豪強地主寧成，正在南陽居住。寧成為了討好義縱，每次迎送都裝出謙恭的樣子。但是，義縱對他的惡行早有所聞，到南陽後立即展開調查，很快就查清他的罪行，把他關押起來。

後來，漢武帝又任命義縱做定襄太守。當時定襄的社會治安歷史學家混亂。義縱到任以後，把押在獄中的沒有加開具的二百多名重犯，以及為重犯開脫罪責進行賄賂的二百多名門客親屬，一律嚴加追究，拘捕治罪，一天之內處死的就有四百多名。從此以後，定襄的人一聽到義縱的名字就「不寒而慄」－－天氣不冷卻渾身發抖。

Shivering All Over Though Not Cold

In the reign of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty, there was a man whose name was Yi Zong.Because of the special Kindness of the mother of the emperor, Yi Zong was made a county magistrate in the Shangdanh Prefecture. After taking up the official post, he did very well in managing the official business. He Was courageous and resolute in bandling cases, and punished according to law anybody who violated the law, no matter whether he was a despotic gentleman who was rich and powerful or was one of the common people. Once the son of Prince Xiucheng violated the law . Prince Xiucheng was the son of the daughter of the mother of the emperor. Yi Zong handled the case impartially, for which he was thought of highly by the emperor and was transferred to be the commander of the armed forces in the Henei Prefecture.As soon as he took office, he had all the members of a wealthy and influential family that had brought calamities to the people there executed. For a while, the public order and the general mood of society in the Henei Prefectures were greatly improved.If someone should lose something on the road through carelessness, nobody would pick it up and take it as his own. When YiZong was transferred to be the prefect of the Nanyang Prefecture, Ning Cheng, a despotic landlord who stopped at nothing in doing evil, was living there, In order to ingratiate himself with Yi Zong, Ning Cheng pretended to be very modest and courteous every time he met Yi Zong and saw him off. But Yi Zong had heard of the evil conducts of Ning Zong and saw him off. But Yi Zong had heard of the evil conducts of Ning Cheng already and, soon after he took office in Nanyang, he made investigations.It did not take much time for him to find out Ning cheng's crimes and had him put in prison.Later, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty appointed Yi Zong the prefect of the Dingxiang Prefecture .At that time, the publica order in Dingxiang was very chaotic.When he took office there, there were 200 convicts in prison who had committed felonies had no implements of punishment on them.There were also more than 200 persons who offered bribes in order to absolve those serious offenders trom guilt.Yi Zong treated the matter severely. He arrested all those bribers and punished the bribers and those serious offenders already in prison severely. More than 400 convicts were executed in a bay. From that day on, whenever the name of YiZong was mentioned.people in Dingxinang would tremble with fear - they would shiver all over though not cold. This story appears in the "Lives of the Merciless Judges and Prison Wardens" in The Historical Records written by Sima Pian. The set phrase "shivering all over though not cold" is used to refer to the state of being extremely afraid.