I tend to agree that Caesar wanted to be "primus inter pares" but if he could not, if he felt he was being deprived of the position that should be rightfully his, there wasn't much limit to his ruthlessness thereafter. I think, after the Rubicon, he realized that if he gave so much as an inch to the Catonian faction, he was just as dead as if he'd never invaded. Power became so linked with his own survival that he had to keep his hand on it absolutely. Reminds me of a Mafia Don, at least in the tales . . . it was a zero sum game he had to play. Cicero and all his "restore the Republic, dread sovereign" must have driven him nuts - as if he'd live if he tried!

I've never felt Caesar had a great deal of feeling for any woman, but I THINK - just my thought! - his peculiar tour of the Nile with Cleopatra was all part of his ambition to have Egypt so tied to Rome that he'd have that as a power-base forever. If he 'made sure' of Cleopatra, who could quite easily have ruled Egypt for the rest of his life, he'd have her infinite resources of armies and money in case anything went wrong in Rome. A political decision, although I think he was genuinely attracted to her.

I tend to forget that it was Octavian, not Caesar, who simply annexed Egypt and made sure, one way or another, it's ruler was dead and couldn't bite. Caesar was trying to work WITH Egypt, and if that meant pleasing Cleopatra as an ally, he was all for it. But I don't for one second believe he ever intended to bring Cleo to Rome, marry her, or whatever else - he would have foreseen (as Antony did not) just what the Roman opposition could do with THAT!