[1] He was originally loyal to Mark Antony, but eventually switched sides and joined Octavian following the latter's victory at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC.
His cousins were the consul Quintus Pedius, Octavia Minor (the fourth wife of Triumvir Mark Antony), and Octavian (the future emperor Augustus).
[4] Scarpus became an ally to Mark Antony and commanded for him in the war against the murderers of Caesar, Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus.
After Antony and his lover, the Ptolemaic Greek Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt, were defeated by Octavian at Actium (September 2, 31 BC), they sailed back to North Africa.
[7] While Octavian marched from the East through Asia, Syria and Judea against Egypt, Cornelius Gallus advanced with Scarpus’ legions from the west against Alexandria.
In a later part Saylor depicts Pinarius as being secretly in love with Cleopatra and - wanting to spare her humiliation and degradation at the hands of the victorious Augustus - providing her with the asp with which she committed suicide.