Alarmed at a later period by the excessive zeal of his Christian preceptors, and probably fearful of provoking rebellion among his Zoroastrian subjects, he turned around upon his late friends, and treated them with a cruelty even exceeding that previously exhibited towards their adversaries.

It was probably this twofold persecution that, offending both professions, attached to Isdigerd in his own country the character of a harsh and bad monarch.

Foreigners, who did not suffer from his caprices or his violence, might deem him magnanimous and a model of virtue.

His own subjects with reason detested his rule, and branded his memory with the well-deserved epithet of Al-Athim, "the Wicked." A curious tale is told as to the death of Isdigerd.

He was still in the full vigor of manhood when one day a horse of rare beauty, without bridle or caparison, came of its own accord and stopped before the gate of his palace.