漢武帝時(shí)，有一個(gè)人名叫義縱，因?yàn)槭艿教蟮亩鲗櫍隽松宵h郡某縣令。上任以后，公務(wù)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，皇上很贊賞他，調(diào)他做河內(nèi)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(shí)間，河內(nèi)郡的治安和社會風(fēng)氣大有好轉(zhuǎn)，有人不慎把東西失落在道路上，也沒有人搶走據(jù)為已有。
義縱調(diào)到南陽任太守時(shí)，一個(gè)做惡多端的豪強(qiáng)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，到南陽后立即展開調(diào)查，很快就查清他的罪行，把他關(guān)押起來。
后來，漢武帝又任命義縱做定襄太守。當(dāng)時(shí)定襄的社會治安歷史學(xué)家混亂。義縱到任以后，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(zé)進(jìn)行賄賂的二百多名門客親屬，一律嚴(yán)加追究，拘捕治罪，一天之內(nèi)處死的就有四百多名。從此以后，定襄的人一聽到義縱的名字就“不寒而栗”－－天氣不冷卻渾身發(fā)抖。
shivering all over though not coldin 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. yizong 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,ningcheng,a despotic landlord who stopped at nothing in doing evil,wsa living there,in order to ingratiate himself with yizong,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 yizong 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.yizong 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.