'…nec tamen versus eius comparandi sunt cum epigrammatis sale plenis quae Martialis in in inmicos scripsit.
Nonne ‘comparandi’ gerundivum (Masc. Nom. Pl.) est?
According to a book titled “Beginning Latin Poetry Reader” McGraw Hill, pg 239: “A common feature of Latin verse is the use of the plural form of a noun instead of the singular, with no difference in meaning.”
This is in reference to the ninth line of “Hope Not for Immortality” by Horace, where he uses frigora to mean cold instead of using frigus.
Maybe that’s of help to you. I don’t know. I just happened to be studying that poem yesterday.
Thanks. I’m trying to confirm whether it’s a gerundive. I think it probably is…
It looks like present passive indicative to me: comparandi sunt. Cornelius seems to be saying the verses are compared with the epigrams Martial wrote. Oh… I think I see what you mean. You think it might translate as “should be compared” and, hence, it is gerundive?
Oh never mind. I am confused by Whitaker’s Words… I must be seeing it wrongly:
compar.andi VPAR 1 1 NOM P M FUT PASSIVE PPL
PPL+sunt V 1 1 PRES PASSIVE IND 3 P
Gerundivum est.
It is gerundive. “his verses should not be compared to …”
Whitaker’s Words operates with the term future passive participle, which in some cases might seem to fit the semantical features of the gerundive. But don’t use that term.
thanks to you all for your help
Whose verses, by the way, shouldn’t be compared to Martial’s?!
Catullus being compared to Martialis, I think.
Catullus ens comparatur Martialis, puto.
Sorry, but is ens comparatur some kind of mediaeval construction?
No, it isn’t. Jamesbath, I think, is just confused by the participle in the English sentence 
It must be Catullus est qui comparatur Martiali ut puto or the like that is meant.
gratias vobis pro dicens de errore 
Be careful with English forms - it’s easy to become a slave to them. Here you mean (using your vocabulary): Gratias vobis [ago] quod mihi de errore dixistis.
The participle in -ns should be considered an adjective rather than a verb - dicens = “a person who is saying”.
Auxilium tuum mihi prodest
Quia mihi prodes… 
Gratias tibi ago.
You’re welcome
I’m actually not sure whether the quod there actually means “because” or if it serves some other function. All the same, I see nothing wrong with quia here.
Catullus est qui comparatur Martiali ut puto.
I know this is terribly off-topic, but this construction mystifies me. Is there some sort of special usage with ‘qui … ut …’ that actually means Jamesbath’s ‘I think’ in English?