if it helps it's from his novel imperium about cicero. the rest of the quote is great. "...Cicero had stuck to his principles and rejected joining pompey, crassus, and Caesar in their triumvirate to supplant the state. He denounced their criminality in public...in response, he suffered banishment, poverty, and heartbreak. "What good am i to my family or my principles, exiled here?" something like that. from memory. great little trilogy of books btw. got the rec off here actually