The general principles which guided his conduct both in religious and other matters may perhaps be best gathered from the words of that "testament," or "dying speech," which he is said to have addressed to his son Sapor.

"Never forget," he said, "that, as a king, you are at once the protector of religion and of your country.

Consider the altar and the throne as inseparable; they must always sustain each other.

A sovereign without religion is a tyrant; and a people who have none may be deemed the most monstrous of all societies.

Religion may exist without a state; but a state cannot exist without religion; and it is by holy laws that a political association can alone be bound.