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