John Calvin Commentary Acts 19:37

"For ye have brought [hither] these men, who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess." — Acts 19:37 (ASV)

Men which are neither church-robbers. He both truly and well denies that they are church-robbers; but he shortly after falsely defines the kind of church-robbery as speaking blasphemously against Diana. For since all superstition is profane and polluted, it follows that those are sacrilegious persons who transfer the honor that is due to God alone to idols.

But the town-clerk's wisdom, which was worldly, is commended here, not his godliness. For he aimed at this alone: to quell the uproar.

Therefore, he finally concludes that if Demetrius has any private matter, there are judgment-seats and magistrates. He also argues that public affairs must be handled in a lawful, not a disordered, assembly—that is, an assembly gathered by the command of the magistrates, not an unthinking crowd assembled at one man's prompting and to satisfy his own desires.

He calls them 'deputies,' in the plural, not because Asia had more than one, but because legates sometimes held court in place of the deputies. Furthermore, he appeases the crowd by making them afraid, because the deputy would have an opportunity to punish and heavily fine the city.