Now, as our purpose is to discover, not what time is not, but what
it really is, we notice that this question has been treated at great
length by many thinkers before us; and if we were to undertake to
consider all existing opinions on the subject, we would be obliged to
write a veritable history of the subject. We have here, however, gone
to the limit of our ability in treating it without specializing in it.
As has been seen, it is easy enough to refute the opinion that time
is the measure of the movement of the universe, and to raise against
this opinion the objections that we have raised against the definition
of time as the measure of movement in general, opposing thereto the
irregularity of movement, and the other points from which suitable
arguments may be drawn. We are therefore free to devote ourselves to an
explanation of what time really is.