A man captured a young tiger and resolved to make a pet of it. It grew up like a kitten， fond and gentle. There was no evidence of its savage， bloodthirsty nature， and it seemed perfectly harmless. But one day while the master was playing with his pet， the rough tongue upon his hand started the blood from a scratch. The moment the beast tasted blood， his ferocious tiger nature was roused， and he rushed upon his master to tear him to pieces.
Sometimes the appetite for drink， which was thought to be buried years ago， is roused by the taste or the smell of "the devil in solution，" and the wretched victim finds himself a helpless slave to the passion which he thought dead.
The wife of Socrates， Xanthippe， was a woman of a most fantastical and furious spirit. At one time， having vented all the reproaches upon Socrates her fury could suggest， he went out and sat before the door. His calm and unconcerned behavior but irritated her so much the more； and， in the excess of her rage， she ran upstairs and emptied a vessel upon his head， at which he only laughed and said that"so much thunder must needs produce a shower. " Alcibiades， his friend， talking with him about his wife， told him he wondered how he could bear such an everlasting scold in the same house with him. He replied， " I have so accustomed myself to expect it， that it now offends me no more than the noise of carriages in the street. "
The strong man is the one who ever keeps himself under strict discipline， who never once allows the lower to usurp the place of the higher in him； who makes his passions his servants and never allows them to be his master； who is ever led by his mind and not by his inclinations. He drills and disciplines his desires and keeps the roots of his life under ground， and never allows them to interfere with his character. He is never the slave of his inclinations， nor the sport of impulse. He is the commander of himself and heads his ship due north even in the wildest tempests of passion.