Two versions of the opening argument:

1798:
THE RIME OF THE ANCYENT
                      MARINERE, IN SEVEN PARTS

                                     ARGUMENT.

How a Ship having passed the Line was driven by Storms to the cold 
Country towards the South Pole; and how
from thence she made her course to the tropical Latitude of the 
Great Pacific Ocean; and of the strange things
that befell; and in what manner the Ancyent Marinere came back 
to his own Country.

Becomes in 1800:

The Ancient Mariner.  A Poet's Reverie.

How a Ship, having first sailed to the Equator, was driven
by Storms, to the cold Country towards the South Pole; 
how the Ancient Mariner cruelly, and in contempt of the 
laws of hospitality, killed a Sea-bird; and how he was followed
by many and strange Judgements; and in what manne he came 
back to his own Country.

Here is a link to more information & the poem: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/stc.html

ps. I do not see the epigraph in our edition in either the 1798 or the 1800. I suspect it was added in 1817, but have not verified this.

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