In so far as any principles can be deduced from this history, they seem to show that Jerusalem, situated as it is, could never become the capital of a great Empire. On the other hand, this city, coveted by so many races and creeds, must be safeguarded by the arms and resources of some great Empire, or it can never remain at peace. It may be of interest to close this resume of the history of Jerusalem by comparing the route taken by General Allenby with those taken by previous soldiers in their conquests of Judaea. The routes taken by the British have already been fully described. In only one known case, that of the First Crusade, had Judaea been successfully invaded before by an invader who had not previously made himself master of at least three of her borders.[8] The attempt at a swift rush across one border made by Cestius Gallus, ended in a failure, which was only wiped out four years later after the Romans, under Vespasian and Titus, had first overrun Galilee and Samaria and mastered the strongholds round the Judaean borders. This was the policy followed, a thousand years later, by Saladin. The upland of Judaea has almost never been invaded from the barren waterless south.[8] David, operating from Hebron, must have approached Jerusalem from the south, but he was already in possession of the Judaean plateau. The original attempt of the Israelites to enter the country from the south was checked, and they subsequently crossed the Jordan and entered Judaea through Jericho from the east. The Philistines must have come up by the passes from the west. Sennacherib did not approach Jerusalem himself, but it was whilst warring against Egypt at Lachish (Tel el Hesi on the Maritime Plain) that he sent his arrogant message to Jerusalem; and it was on the Plain that his victorious army, infected by the plague from Egypt, melted away as by a miracle. Egypt was his objective, not Judaea. Nebuchadnezzar may have invaded Judaea from the north, but it is more probable that he also came up from the west, after first making himself master of the Maritime Plain. Pompey was returning from his expedition in Arabia when he invaded, so he entered from the east, ascending the Judaean plateau by way of Jericho and Bethel. Herod invaded from the north.