Wine hath drowned more men than the sea.

Fuller’s aphorism contrasts a dramatic, external danger (shipwreck and drowning at sea) with a quieter, everyday peril: alcohol. “Drowned” works as a metaphor for ruin—death by drink, but also the loss of judgment, livelihood, reputation, and spiritual well-being. The line reflects a moralizing, proverb-like style common in seventeenth-century English religious and social commentary, where intemperance is treated as a widespread, socially corrosive vice. By claiming wine has “drowned more men,” Fuller emphasizes frequency and proximity: most people will never face the sea, but many face temptation at the table.