The senate now sensed the return of their power and proceeded to govern in the old way. Twenty senators were selected to command the army in defense of Italy. Each was given unlimited authority to prepare for battle. At the same time dispatches were sent to the provinces begging the commanders to send help to the city.
Before the defense of Italy could begin, however, the Gordians were dead. A force from Mauritania, loyal to Maximinus, attacked them at Carthage. When the farther heard his son had been killed in battle, he committed suicide after a reign of thirty six days. It was the beginning of March 238 A.D.