He was a kind, just, and beneficent prince, who treated his subjects well, issued conciliatory proclamations in all directions, and his uncle, Ardeshir, who had abdicated, rejoiced to obey him. Some state that after he had reigned a little over five years, and was sitting, but according to others sleeping, in a tent, a strong wind arose, which severed its ropes, so that its big pole fell and killed him:
Verses: He slept, and there arose a wind
The like of which no one remembered.
It tore the pole, and threw it on the king:
Shâpûr died, and left his crown to others.
Ebn Athir and Muhammad Bin Jarir-ut-Tabari state that the officers in attendance purposely cut the tent-ropes, so as to cause the tent-pole to fall on his head and to kill him. His cognomen is Shâpûr Aljanûd [Shâpûr of the armies]. The author of this work is of opinion that Shâpûr must have been a wonderful simpleton of a king to leave his royal pavilion and to dwell in a tent. One of his sayings was: ‘There is nothing more handsome than kindness, but gratitude is better.’ He also said: ‘Grievances are dangerous everywhere, but those are most dangerous which are in the breasts of kings.’ The following is likewise one of his maxims: ‘Evil exists in the nature of every man; if a man overcomes it, it will remain hidden, but if it overcomes him, it will appear.’