One thing that has struck me, watching the ROME mini-series and its Chapter VIII introduction of Cleopatra, is the differences in how Caesar and Antony related to this extraordinary woman.

My impression is that Caesar, however he may have extended his Egyptian campaign to tour the Nile with Cleopatra, and acknowledge her son, compartmentalized that affair. If Cleopatra's desire was to get the best deal for Egypt she could, she got far more from Antony than Caesar.

As far as my memory serves, she got utterly NOTHING from Caesar's Rome except assistance in getting rid of her hostile younger brother; troops, mainly.

Whereas, of course, the greatest gift ever given to Octavian was when, in 34 BC, Antony just handed out chunks of (arguably) Rome's empire to his children by Cleopatra, which led directly to the Battle of Actium.

So in the endlessly fascinating compare/contrast of Caesar and Antony, I'd say one didn't listen to the Egyptian serpent (other than as it benefitted Rome), and one did!