PC: Quintus Julius Caesar Pedianus? (ergo Quintus Pedius named Julius Caesar's heir)

Brainstorming for a potential vignette or flash TL here. Also, happy belated Ides of March! :D

Let's say Gaius Octavius the Younger (aka Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus aka Augustus) has a maritime accident in May of 44BC before he can claim his inheritance or dies putting his shoes on like his great- and great-great-granduncles and Mark Antony acts quickly, realising that the only factor he didn't count on has now drowned at sea or croaked with untied laces.

If Suetonius is to believed, the next heir would've been Decimus Junius Brutus, which Mark Antony would pronounce to be an unacceptable choice given, y'know, the guy kind of stabbed Caesar along with his 22 friends, leaving Caesar's two other grandnephews Quintus Pedius and Lucius Pinarius (who did receive 12.5% of the Caesar estate each in OTL.) Between the two, Quintus was more reknown, having served as general and consul and was probably a more senior relative to Octavi(an)us than Lucius, if Quintus was descended from Julia Minor through her first daughter Atia Balba Prima.

How plausible is it that Mark Antony, acting as the executor of Caesar's will (however unofficially, although sponsored by Calpurnia) presents Quintus Pedius as the most logical heir to Julius Caesar, even going so far as to apportion the inheritance due to Octavi(an)us to Quintus and renaming him Quintus Julius Caesar Pedianus, maybe even relenting on his stand concerning deifying Julius Caesar, terming Quintus divi filius?

Given that Quintus Pedius never showed any of the craftiness or guile that Augustus did in OTL (otherwise he'd certainly have had an appearance in I, Claudius or Rome), this could lead to Mark Antony dominating the Antony-Lepidus-Pedianus trimurvirate, or any number of equally juicy outcomes.

What do you guys think? :)
 
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In Caesar's will, Pedius and Pinarius Scarpus came before Decimus Junius Brutus. Brutus would have been the legal heir only if both had been dead too.

And as a murderer of Caesar, Brutus could not inherit Caesar since it would have made him a parricide.
 
What Matteo said. Plus, Antony would be loathe to actually endorse anyone else as heir to Caesar. It would entirely be up to what Quintus Pedius or Pinarius can do with their newfound inheritance, and my guess is very little. That does however, put Antony in an awkward spot. Cicero is going to still go all out on getting him out of the picture, and like he did with Octavius, he'd likely try to enlist Pedius. Pedius might make for a nice puppet for Cicero to manipulate for his own ends, and without Octavian there with his scheming, Antony would find himself in a bind he might not be able to work himself out of if something similar to the Mutina campaign plays out. He might find himself dead by its conclusion.
 
In Caesar's will, Pedius and Pinarius Scarpus came before Decimus Junius Brutus. Brutus would have been the legal heir only if both had been dead too.

And as a murderer of Caesar, Brutus could not inherit Caesar since it would have made him a parricide.

Thanks for that! So that in fact removes one obstacle in my scenario then.

SlyDessertFox, not even a chance that Mark Antony would be willing to do so if he knew (or reckoned) that Quintus would prove pretty pliable - a "puppet Octavian", if you will? Given that Lepidus was pretty easily outsmarted in OTL, could Mark Antony seize a chance to be top dog in the Trimurvirate, absorbing pro-Caesar sentiment through Quintus and military force through Lepidus, dealing with Cicero via proscription? To cement his control over the Caesar estate, he could possibly compel his brother Lucius Antony to marry Atia Balba Prima, making Lucius Antony Quintus's stepfather (I see no reason why Mark Antony would divorce Fulvia at this stage.)

Whether Quintus eventually comes to resent his role and perhaps plot with Lepidus to unseat Mark Antony or not is up in the air, but it could be one way of stacking the deck in favour of Mark Antony.
 
Bumpus maximus. Further thought on my part: If Quintus throws in his lot with Antony and Cicero really wants an extended member of the Julii to come out against the trimurvirate, he might back Pinarius, leading to a conflict between cousins, alternatively Tiberius Claudius Nero the father of the emperor Tiberius given that he was an Optimate and also respected by the Julii.

Does anyone else have thoughts on this aspect of the scenario or any others?
 
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