Civilization complicating itself, as it inevitably does, the Lydian custom was subsequently displaced in the Western world by that more acceptable habit of pair-bonding which allows the romantic adventurer to acquire the dowry by action of the marriage itself. This then becomes the basis, later in life, of a truly companionable match, though not without some additional cost in innocence and youth. The practice does bear one unmistakably modern improvement in that roles are no longer necessarily sex-specific.