Pieter Seuren has pointed out to me that the tradition of beginning with an apology is so old that it has a name in medieval rhetoric: it is called the captatio benevolentiae, the capturing of the audience's good will.

彼得·瑟伦（Pieter Seuren）向我指出，以道歉开头的传统是如此古老，以至于它在中世纪修辞学中有一个名字：它被称为“captatio benevolentiae”，即捕获观众的善意。