§8.50.1ταῦτα τῶν ἀπὸ Πελοποννήσου στρατηγῶν ἐπιλεγομένων, ἐληλύθεε ἀνὴρ Ἀθηναῖος ἀγγέλλων ἥκειν τὸν βάρβαρον ἐς τὴν Ἀττικὴν καὶ πᾶσαν αὐτὴν πυρπολέεσθαι.
While the generals from the Peloponnese were discussing these matters, an Athenian man arrived, bringing news that the barbarian had come into Attica and that all of it was being laid waste by fire.
§8.50.2ὁ γὰρ διὰ Βοιωτῶν τραπόμενος στρατὸς ἅμα Ξέρξῃ, ἐμπρήσας Θεσπιέων τὴν πόλιν, αὐτῶν ἐκλελοιπότων ἐς Πελοπόννησον, καὶ τὴν Πλαταιέων ὡσαύτως, ἧκέ τε ἐς τὰς Ἀθήνας καὶ πάντα ἐκεῖνα ἐδηίου.
For the army that had marched through Boeotia together with Xerxes, after burning the city of the Thespians, who had themselves abandoned it and fled to the Peloponnese, and likewise that of the Plataeans, had arrived at Athens and was ravaging all that region.
ἐνέπρησε δὲ Θέσπειάν τε καὶ Πλάταιαν πυθόμενος Θηβαίων ὅτι οὐκ ἐμήδιζον.
He burned both Thespiae and Plataea because he had learned from the Thebans that they did not side with the Medes.