Justinian I
Roman emperor at Constantinople from 527 to 565; he caught the plague in 542 and survived.
c. 482–565
The Plague at Constantinople
Procopius, History of the Wars, Book 2 (chapters 22–23) · c. 550 (events of 542; Books 1–7 made public in 551 at the earliest)
διὸ δὴ ξυνέβη τισὶ τῶν γνωρίμων τῇ ἀπορίᾳ ἡμέρας πολλὰς ἀτάφοις εἶναι. Ἔς τε βασιλέα ἡ τοῦ πράγματος πρόνοια,
Because of this, some prominent people lay unburied for many days, since there was no one to bury them. The task of dealing with the problem fell to the emperor,
Θεόδωρος δὲ τά τε βασιλέως διδοὺς χρήματα καὶ τὰ οἰκεῖα προσαναλίσκων τοὺς ἀπημελημένους τῶν νεκρῶν ἔθαπτεν.
Theodore, handing out the emperor's money and spending his own as well, buried the dead whom no one had cared for.
καὶ τὸ ξύμπαν εἰπεῖν, χλαμύδα οὐκ ἦν ἐνδιδυσκόμενόν τινα ἐν Βυζαντίῳ τὸ παράπαν ἰδεῖν, ἄλλως τε ἡνίκα βασιλεῖ νοσῆσαι ξυνέβη (καὶ αὐτῷ γὰρ ξυνέπεσε βουβῶνα ἐπῆρθαι), ἀλλ’ ἐν πόλει βασιλείαν ἐχούσῃ ξυμπάσης τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἀρχῆς ἱμάτια ἐν ἰδιωτῶν λόγῳ ἅπαντες ἀμπεχόμενοι ἡσυχῆ ἔμενον.
In short, you could not see a single person in Byzantium wearing the official's cloak, especially once the emperor fell sick (for a bubo rose on him too). Instead, in a city that held the imperial power over the whole Roman Empire, everyone dressed like a private citizen and lived quietly.