He was born as a son of a poor shepherd, and died poor.
A genuine sociopath would have disposed of poor Shepherd anyway, either for the fun of it or to polish his homicidal image.
Commotion of any kind always distressed poor Shepherd, and when anxious, he could be at his most unpredictable.
"But Peppino did not even belong to my band: he was merely a poor shepherd, whose only crime consisted in furnishing us with provisions."
Especially since all that'd really happened was that some poor shepherd who just happened to be in the wrong place during a thunderstorm had caught a stray bolt.
The princess, unable to forget that she was not really a shepherdess, could not bring herself to marry a poor shepherd.
"Not even Antonin can control a poor shepherd who fiercely resists, but his power is great enough to destroy him or her."
Then Moses feels compelled to enlighten the poor shepherd and he explains that God, being pure spirit, does not drink milk.
Don't have the answer I'm afraid and neither did poor old Shepherd when they came plundering again early in the second half.
And so the poor shepherd was drowned instead of Mr. Simon!