How did Maximus Decimus Meridius die?

Maximus Decimus Meridius was a fictional character and hero of the Movie Gladiator (2000). When Emperor came to know of the conspiracy to kill him (through sister Lucilla), he got Maximus arrested. Then in the Coloseum basement he stabbed his lung and got the wound covered by armor. During the duel that ensued between the two in the arena, Commodus was killed when his soldiers betrayed him. Maximus also succumbed to the punctured lung 'to meet his wife and son in afterlife' asking senator Graccius to restore power of Roman Kingdom to the senate.