Julian’s lack of touchiness

Gibbon, a great fan of the pagan Julian, tells the following charming anecdote about the Emperor’s leniency:

“A citizen of Ancyra had prepared for his own use a purple garment; and this indiscreet action, which, under the reign of Constantius, would have been a capital offence, was reported to Julian by the officious importunity of a private enemy. The monarch, after making some inquiry into the rank and character of his rival, dispatched the informer with a pair of purple slippers, to complete the magnificence of his Imperial habit.”