On the same [day] — as has been said, from v. 19, on the tenth day of the first month — [they departed] from that bank where for a little while some had waited for others; they had set out toward Jericho, in this order (as was said in ch. 1, quaestion 2 of the second preparation, and ch. 3, part 1, quaest. 7): In the very first place went the ark of the Lord. In the second [place], the priests who accompanied it most nearly — the remaining [priests] and the Levites — as Josephus advises (bk. 5). In the third [place], the Reubenites, Gadites, and half-Manassites (here, v. 12). In the fourth place, the other tribes advanced in the usual order, as Abulensis explains. But the Rabbis trifle [in saying] that from here [the people] set out straight to Gerizim and Ebal, and thence returned to Gilgal. But see Lyra at the end of ch. 4; Abulensis quaest. 22 and following; Masius at the beginning of ch. 8, fol. 151.
At last, that evening, they pitched camp in a place which was between Jericho and the Jordan — that is, on the eastern side of Jericho (v. 19). But because [it] was shown (ch. 2, part 1, quaestion 4) [that] Jericho is distant from the river Jordan by 60 stadia, the place of the camp was at the fiftieth stadium—
(col. 477 — left column; printed “484”)
—[at the] fiftieth [stadium] from the river and the tenth from the city, as Josephus there says. So that, after the crossing of the Jordan, the Israelites still completed 50 stadia — that is, a German mile and nearly a third part of one [more]. Now this place has names, either common or proper. Of these [common ones], here (v. 13; ch. 5 v. 10) [is] the Hebrew harboth [עַרְבוֹת, arboth], that is, “the plains and level-fields of Jericho” — that is, level and even plains, so that [it] may be signified [in contrast] to the mountains which were around Jericho, as [was] said in that same question (ch. 2): [namely,] that [there] was nothing of camps [there], but only on the very level of the plains. But here (v. 13) the Seventy indicated only where that place was, not what kind [it] was, when they translated πρὸς τὴν Ἱεριχὼ πόλιν [pros tēn Hierichō polin, “toward the city Jericho”]. Yet in the following chapter (v. 10) they showed also its very quality, by translating [it] πεδίον [pedion, “plain”]. But in the former place they imitated the Hebrew text itself (in the same ch. 5 v. 13), where [it] says [that] Joshua himself was “in Jericho,” for “in the plain”; or, as our Latin [Vulgate] expressed the thing itself, “in the field of the city Jericho.” For within the city itself Joshua was not yet [present] then. The same place is also called (ch. 4 v. 3) malon [מָלוֹן, malon], that is, “a lodging-place,” or rather “a halt”—
(col. 477, lower; printed “484”)
—in which the Israelites might lodge; for which the Seventy said σταθμόν [stathmon, “halting-station”]; and (ch. 5 v. 8) simply “the camp,” τὴν παρεμβολήν [tēn parembolēn, “the encampment”]. The proper name — which is set down here (v. 19) — was Galgala [Gilgal]. But of it [more] fitly [at] ch. 5 v. 9. Now Joshua chose this place for the camp not by chance — [as if] because on that day [it] was not permitted to advance further, as Abulensis thinks (quaest. 21) — but either by divine admonition, or by military art and prudence. For, first, to press on beyond the city of Jericho was not expedient. For then [there] would have been enemies both behind, and in front, and on all sides. But “those who break through the borders of others,” says the expositor of Vegetius (bk. 3 ch. 8), “who set out with an army on an expedition — if they are prudent — always take this care, not to leave an enemy behind them.” And to this pertains that [saying] of Varro (bk. 3 On the Life of the Roman People): “Caesar made a turning-back, lest he leave behind his back, in Spain, the armies which were [there], to which Pompey might betake himself, and [so Caesar] be pressed by a war on two fronts.” And therefore, too, Vegetius (in the cited place): “The enemy hardly dares to approach those places in which he knows [there] are adversaries lingering both in front and behind.” And therefore [it] is related [that this] is greatly guarded against by the Turks. Then, to place the camp very near the city itself is [a matter] neither of custom nor of [sound] counsel. For beyond a spear’s throw,—
(col. 478 — right column; printed “485”)
—and further from battles, those [camps] ought to be, since in them [there] are not only the men who fight, but also the beasts of burden, the baggage, the carriers, and — then indeed — also women, boys, and the other impediments of a long march. Thirdly, these plains were, as was shown [in] ch. 2, fertile, healthful, near to woods and waters, so that foraging, wood-gathering, and water-gathering, and the pasturing of the cattle, could be most easy. Finally, according to the character of the region, [there] were here all the [things] which the masters of the art of war require for a camp-dwelling — for instance, that very Vegetius already named by me, in the cited place. But all these [things] had to be considered so much the more diligently, because the force and multitude of the enemy was great, and because the camp was going to be — not for the passage of a single night, but for several summers and winters — a fixed [standing] camp [statiua], as will appear below. But since camps are wont to be either square, or round, or triangular, or oblong — which of these its shape was, I have not found. But of old the standards [signa] were first placed in their [proper] places, within the camp, because — says the same Vegetius — “nothing is more venerable to the soldiers than their [the standards’] majesty.” Here, therefore, first of all, [the] place was appointed for the ark, because to all the Israelites nothing was more venerable. But that castrametari [“to pitch camp”] is one word or two — [this is a thing which] Abulensis teaches, in this place, [only to] those [who are] quite ignorant of Grammar.