Charles Hyart’s book about the indirect style in Republican Latin has laid the basis for further work in this field. In this paper, after some notes about grammatical and stylistic features of the orationes obliquae in Plautus’ work, I will try to show the importance of these passages for the action of the respective plays. Two passages in Amphitruo and Mercator already come quite close to the orationes obliquae in the work of the great Republican historians.