Acts 16:37 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Paul said unto them, the officers who were sent to the prison with the message about their liberty. They have beaten us; the magistrates, who commanded them to be beaten, are justly charged with the beating of them, as if they had themselves done it. Openly; it was no small aggravation of their injustice, and these holy men's sufferings, that they had, for the greater spite unto them, openly scourged them. Uncondemned; for they were not tried, or permitted to speak for themselves. Being Romans; having the privilege of Roman citizens, which was sometimes given to whole communities. Now such by their laws might not be bound, much less beaten, (and least of all uncondemned), without the consent of the Romans. Let them come themselves and fetch us out; this the apostle stands upon, not so much for his own, as for the gospel's sake, that it might not be noised abroad, that the preachers of it were wicked and vile men, and did deserve such ignominious punishment. Though they were as innocent as doves, it became them also to be as wise as serpents.