As COS III S C, Salus

The Salus type appears during Hadrian's third consulship at a moment when the emperor was largely absent from Rome, deep into his first great provincial tour. The Senate's continued striking of *SC* bronzes in his name during these absences was partly administrative habit, partly a careful political signal that the machinery of Roman governance ran smoothly without the emperor physically present. Salus — health, safety, preservation — was a pointed choice for a ruler whose itinerary kept him perpetually exposed to the logistical hazards of travel across the empire's extremities.